On September 30, 2012, Region 1 referred a civil enforcement action to DOJ regarding an existing consent decree with the City of Bangor, Maine. In 2010, the Region informed the City that, despite its compliance with the terms of its 1991 Consent Decree that required wastewater treatment facility and collection system modifications, it had not yet fully achieved the goals set forth in its state-issued NPDES permit for Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) control. Since reopening the consent decree to require additional CSO work presented an opportunity to also require the City to address sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) and stormwater discharges not covered by the earlier consent decree, the Region referred the case to the DOJ for the filing of a substantially modified consent decree which will include additional SSO and stormwater noncompliance and require specific remedial steps regarding CSO, SSO, and stormwater discharges and improvement of the City's general collection system operation and maintenance.
On December 13, 2015, a Consent Decree was entered in EPA's case against the City of Bangor, Maine for Clean Water Act violations pertaining to its wastewater treatment and stormwater systems. Despite the City's full compliance with the terms of a 1991 settlement requiring wastewater treatment facility and collection system modifications, Bangor had not yet fully achieved the goals set forth in its state-issued NPDES permit for CSO control. In addition to further CSO remedial