[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 128 (Thursday, July 6, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43137-43138]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-14263]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Proposed Modification of Consent Decree Under the Clean 
Water Act

    On June 29, 2023, the Department of Justice lodged a proposed First 
Modification of Consent Decree (``Modification'') in the United States 
District Court for the District of Puerto Rico in the lawsuit entitled 
United States v. Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, No. 3:15-CV-
02283. In this action, filed on September 15, 2015, the United States 
alleged that the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (``PRASA'') 
had violated the Clean Water Act (``CWA''), 33 U.S.C. 1251, et seq., 
with regard to 52 PRASA wastewater treatment plants (``WWTPs'') and 
their associated wastewater collection systems, 768 wastewater pump 
stations, 119 water treatment plants (``WTPs''), and PRASA's Puerto 
Nuevo Regional WWTP Sewer System (``Puerto Nuevo Sewer System''), the 
sewer system that services San Juan. On May 23, 2016, the United States 
District Court for the District of Puerto Rico entered a Consent Decree 
(``Decree'') that required extensive injunctive relief. The 
Modification makes certain changes to the requirements of the Decree, 
including granting extensions of time for PRASA to complete certain 
projects. The most significant revisions of the Decree are as follows:
    The Decree required PRASA to implement six projects to address 
washwater discharges from drinking water treatment plants by various 
deadlines from December 2017 to December 2020. PRASA has not completed 
one of these projects. The deadline for this project has been extended 
to May 31, 2027.
    The Decree required PRASA to implement 17 projects to address 
various problems in its sanitary wastewater system by various dates 
from December 2015 to December 2020. PRASA has completed ten of these 
projects. The Modification provides an extension of time for seven of 
the projects with new deadlines ranging from December 31, 2023, to 
December 31, 2028.
    The Decree required that PRASA implement a Sewer System 
Reconnaissance involving the inspection and cleaning of the sewers 
located in the Puerto Nuevo Sewer System. The Modification extends 
certain of the deadlines for these projects and establishes deadlines 
for other aspects of these projects.

[[Page 43138]]

    The Decree required that PRASA begin reporting the amount of wet 
weather and dry weather discharges from combined sewer (sewers 
conveying both wastewater and stormwater) outfalls by September 15, 
2018, including estimated flow, and that, if PRASA determined that it 
could not estimate flow by that date, explain why such reporting was 
not feasible and provide a date by which such reporting would be 
feasible. The Modification provides that, by May 31, 2025, PRASA have a 
calibrated and validated model for the Puerto Nuevo Sewer System that 
will enable PRASA to estimate, based on combined sewer outfall level 
monitoring and sewer system modeling, the volume of each Combined Sewer 
Overflow (``CSO'') discharge and that PRASA begin to report the 
location, time, and estimated volume of each CSO discharge.
    The Decree required PRASA to include in its Spill Response and 
Clean-up Plan criteria and strategies for public notification of SSOs/
CSOs. The Modification requires PRASA to post to its website a table 
providing information concerning SSOs and CSOs. The Modification also 
requires PRASA to provide information on its website concerning where 
CSOs occur, the dangers posed by CSOs, methods for reporting CSOs, and 
its efforts to control CSOs.
    In addition to the changes to the Decree discussed above, the 
Modification also requires PRASA to implement 17 new wastewater 
projects, at a total estimated cost of about $530 million. The 
deadlines for completion of these projects range from December 31, 
2024, to December 31, 2030.
    The publication of this notice opens a period for public comment on 
the Modification. Comments should be addressed to the Assistant 
Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and 
should refer to United States v. Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer 
Authority, No. 3:15-CV-02283 (D.P.R.), D.J. Ref. No. 90-5-1-1-08385/4. 
All comments must be submitted no later than 30 days after the 
publication date of this notice. Comments may be submitted either by 
email or by mail:

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         To submit comments:                     Send them to:
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By email............................  [email protected].
By mail.............................  Assistant Attorney General, U.S.
                                       DOJ--ENRD, P.O. Box 7611,
                                       Washington, DC 20044-7611.
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    During the public comment period, the Modification may be examined 
and downloaded at this Justice Department website: https://www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees. The Department of Justice will 
provide a paper copy of the Modification upon written request. Please 
email your request to [email protected] or mail your 
request to: Consent Decree Library, U.S. DOJ--ENRD, P.O. Box 7611, 
Washington, DC 20044-7611.

Henry Friedman,
Assistant Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment 
and Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 2023-14263 Filed 7-5-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-P