WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 24, 2005) -The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Justice and the Commonwealth of Kentucky's Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet jointly announced a comprehensive Clean Water Act settlement with the Louisville and Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District. The agreement ensures that the Metropolitan Sewer District will make extensive improvements to its sewer systems to eliminate unauthorized discharges of untreated sewage and to address problems of overflows from sewers that carry a combination of untreated sewage and storm water at a cost that is likely to exceed $500 million. The district's sewer systems have frequently been overwhelmed by rainfall resulting in unlawful discharges of untreated sewage and overflows of combined sewage into the Ohio River and its tributaries totaling billions of gallons each year.

For additional information, contact:

Mahri Monson
U.S. EPA
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (2243A)
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 564-2657
Mahri Monson (monson.mahri@epa.gov)