City agreed to pay $55,000 civil penalty, fund a $200,000 sediment capping supplemental environmental project, and implement a 25-year comprehensive program including 40 miles of sewer rehabilitation, treatment plant upgrades, and long-term CSO control, reducing annual suspended solids by 285,149 lbs and BOD by 44,033 lbs.

City of Middletown, Ohio — CSO/SSO Violations and Monitoring Failures (2022)

Outcome: City agreed to pay $55,000 civil penalty and fund a $200,000 sediment capping supplemental environmental project, with a 25-year compliance program requiring 40 miles of sewer system rehabilitation, wastewater treatment plant upgrades, and long-term CSO control, projected to reduce annual pollutant loads by 285,149 lbs of suspended solids, 44,033 lbs of biochemical oxygen demand, 942 lbs of nitrogen, and 4,009 lbs of phosphorus.

The City of Middletown, Ohio, located between Cincinnati and Dayton on the Great Miami River, operated a combined and sanitary sewer system with documented violations across multiple categories. NPDES permit violations included effluent limit exceedances for chlorine, ammonia, fecal coliform, and pH — all basic treatment performance parameters. The city also made unauthorized dry weather discharges from combined sewer overflow outfalls, which is particularly significant because dry weather CSO discharges represent undiluted sewage rather than diluted combined flows and indicate more fundamental system or operational failures. Additionally, the city failed to monitor and report required parameters including total suspended solids, fecal coliform, and carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand — creating data gaps in regulatory oversight.

The consent decree required implementation of a 25-year long-term CSO control plan, wastewater treatment plant upgrades over a 25-year timeline, and rehabilitation or replacement of approximately 40 miles of sewer system infrastructure over the same period. A $200,000 supplemental environmental project funds sediment capping to address contamination in local waterways affected by the CSO discharges. The $55,000 civil penalty was split evenly between the United States and the State of Ohio.

Middletown, like many mid-Ohio industrial cities, faces the combined challenge of aging infrastructure, a declining industrial tax base, and federal compliance requirements that require capital investment at scale. The 25-year implementation window reflects recognition of these fiscal constraints while ensuring eventual compliance.

Primary Source: Middletown, Ohio Clean Water Act Settlement | US EPA