Clean Water Act Consent Decree Entered Against DeKalb County, Georgia. On December 20, 2011, the District Court for the Northern District of Georgia entered a Consent Decree settling violations of Section 301 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) by DeKalb County, Georgia (DeKalb). The State of Georgia is a co-plaintiff with the United States in this action. EPA Region 4 had previously referred the matter to the Department of Justice for civil enforcement on May 30, 2008.
DeKalb owns and operates two major waste water treatment plants regulated under the CWA?s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System by the State of Georgia Department of Natural Resources? Environmental Protection Division, which is authorized by EPA to implement the CWA in the State of Georgia. The sewage collection and transmission system (CTS) which DeKalb owns and operates includes approximately 3,000 miles of gravity lines, 40 miles of pressurized force mains, 80,000 manholes, and 60 pump stations. DeKalb?s CTS is a separate sewer system designed to convey only municipal sewage, not stormwater.
DeKalb discharges both treated and untreated sewage into Snapfinger Creek, Pole Bridge Creek, and other water bodies that flow into the Upper Ocmulgee Watershed and the Upper Chattahoochee Watershed, which are navigable waters of the United States, as defined by Section 502(7) of the CWA. There are many waterbodies comprising these watersheds that are included on the State of Georgia?s reports under