United States Environment Protection Agency
Administrative Compliance Order III.
Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law
Section IV.A.8 of Attachment A to the Permit (“CSO Operational Plan”) provides: The permittee shall implement a public notification process to inform the public, the local public health department, and other potentially affected entities of CSO discharges and their impacts. This notification must be done in accordance with 327 IAC 5-2.2 and 40 CFR 122.38.
Section V.A.4 of Attachment A to the Permit (“Public Notification Requirement CSO Discharges to the Great Lake Basin”) provides: “The permittee shall notify the public, local public health department, and other potentially affected entities as soon as possible, but no later than four (4) hours after becoming aware of a CSO discharge and must supplement the initial notice within seven (7) days after the CSO discharge has ended. The notifications must include the minimum information required by 40 CFR 122.38(a)(2) and (3).
November 7, 2022 Update
This Public Notice was created on 10/12/2022
United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 |
In the Matter of: East Chicago Sanitary District Respondent.
| Compliance Order Under Section 309(a) of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §1319(a) |
The City of East Chicago’s publicly–owned treatment works (POTW) collects and treats wastewater generated by approximately 5,440 residential, 200 public/government, 1,265 commercial and small, unpermitted industrial, and 26 permitted industrial accounts. Year to date, the POTW influent has averaged 12.4 million gallons per day. On Wednesday morning, September 28, 2022, a catastrophic event occurred wherein a 42” diameter forcemain carrying approximately 80% of the plants daily influent flow of wastewater from our Alder Street lift station collapsed resulting in the flooding of 152nd Street and Indianapolis Boulevard. Immediate steps taken by the City included the pumping of the wastewater from the broken forcemain location into the POTW. Additionally, the sanitary pumps at the Alder lift station were shut off such that any wastewater flow from the Alder lift station was pumped via storm pumps in to the Grand Calumet River at our Combined Sewer Overflow outfall location CSO #003 located on the west side of the Cline Avenue frontage road (location illustrated below).
The wastewater at CSO #003 is being discharged at an estimated 8 to 10 million gallons per day. This discharge will continue until the City and its contractors are able to install line stops at the upstream and downstream section of broken forcemain and install temporary bypass piping to restore the connection of the forcemain to the POTW. Once the bypass piping is installed, the sanitary pumps at Alder lift station will be turned on and the emergency bypass discharge to the Grand Calumet will cease. During this time, the City is conducting daily inspections of outfall discharge and has implemented a daily sampling program which includes the collection of water samples from the Grand Calumet River at the outfall location as well as locations upstream and downstream of the outfall.
The City of East Chicago recommends that individuals avoid direct contact with water in the Grand Calumet River within 1000 yards of the CSO #003 outfall location until this emergency bypass release has been terminated and the river conditions are returned to pre-emergency conditions. Consumption of, or direct contact with, waste contaminated water could make you ill.
The bypass piping installation was completed on Monday, October 10, 2022. Upon completion, the sanitary pumps at the Alder lift station were turned on at approximately 2:00 PM and began pumping the wastewater to the POTW, thereby ceasing the emergency bypass discharge to the Grand Calumet River. Efforts are continuing to complete the repairs to the broken section of forcemain. These repairs consist of replacing the broken section of broken 42” reinforced concrete pipe with a section of 42” ductile iron pipe. The repairs are estimated to take up to two weeks’ time to complete, contingent upon weather and availability of necessary materials to complete the repair.
The final analytical results from the monitoring of conditions at the Grand Calumet River are being received. The analytical reports will be posted on the city’s website as they are received. Copies of the reports will also be available for review at the Sanitary District office located at 5201 Indianapolis Boulevard during normal business hours 7:00 – 3:00.
If you have any questions, please contact the East Chicago Sanitary District at 219-391-8466.
Under 40 CFR §122.38(a)(3)(ii)(B) notice to the public of a CSO discharge must include “identification of the public access areas potentially impacted by the discharge.”
Water Sample Test Results: