- Buyer's guide Northeast Ohio regional sewer plan approved In
an effort to clean up Lake Erie that began with the passage of
the Clean Water Act in 1972, U.S. District Court Judge Donald C.
Nugent has approved a 25-year regional sewer district plan to
reduce the amount of untreated waste that is dumped into local
waterways, usually during flooding. The judge's approval allows
the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District to move forward on a
$3 billion deal worked out with the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Ohio
Attorney General's office which promises to reduce discharges of
untreated waste from the current level of about 4.5 billion
gallons a year to under 500,000 gallons annually by 2036. The
consent decree signed by the judge requires the district to pay
a total of $1.2 million within 30 days to the U.S. and Ohio EPAs
for past violations of clean water regulations. The sewer
district's board approved a five-year rate hike, the bulk of
which will go to pay for im