Akron is close to a deal with federal and state environmental regulators that would cancel the most expensive remaining piece of its long-running sewer overhaul: a treatment facility projected to cost more than $300 million.
The city announced Oct. 7 that it has reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. and Ohio Environmental Protection Agencies to drop the consent-decree requirement to build an Enhanced High Rate Treatment Facility, known as the EHRT. City officials say the plant would provide little to no additional environmental benefit after the transformation Akron’s sewer system has already undergone.
The deal is not final. It must be approved by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, with Akron-based Judge John Adams presiding, and a 30-day public comment period must pass before the parties ask the court to sign the fourth amendment to the consent decree.
“Our community has invested approximately $1 billion to transform our sewer system, and the environmental results of that investment are extraordinary,” Mayor Shammas Malik said in a statement. He added that residents should not have to spend more than $300 million on a facility offering little extra environmental gain.
The federal consent decree was entered in 2014 to address combined sewer overflows and wet-weather discharges into the Cuyahoga River and its tributaries. Last year, city officials warned that being forced to build the EHRT would mean additional charges on Akron water customers to pay for it.
Akron says the amendment takes effect only if the court approves it. The city is expected to release details on the public comment period in the coming days.
