On October 27, the Lucas County commissioners announced the formation of a commission to examine Maumee’s unpermitted discharge of sanitary sewage overflows into the Maumee River.
The commission is charged with review of the history, nature and extent of the Maumee’s handling of its storm and sanitary sewer overflows; the city’s dealings with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for the remediation plan approved under the 1985 Ohio EPA director’s final findings and orders to address the city’s discharge of excess pollution and sanitary runoff into the river through the EPA findings and orders agreement of July 21, and the circumstances that led to Maumee’s unpermitted charges to go undetected until July 2020, when city officials reported unpermitted discharges to the Ohio EPA.
“The commission will be reviewing dealings Maumee has had with the Ohio EPA since 1985 in the handling of its overflows,” said Commissioner Tina Skeldon Wozniak.
“The county commissioners have been at the forefront of heightening awareness to environmental problems that affect the health of our water ways and Lake Erie and fostering relationships with our local leaders and federal and state officials to effect change for improving water quality. We believe it is our responsibility as county commissioners to take steps on this important issue to reach collaborative solutions and create safeguards that will benefit everyone,” she added.
“The lack of inquiry into the nearly 35-year-old unreported overflow discharges into the Maumee River deserves a much deeper investigation than what Maumee has provided,” said Commissioner Pete Gerken. “While other communities, such as Toledo, have stepped forward to acknowledge and correct overflow discharges with honesty and transparency, Maumee has allowed the efforts of other communities to be diluted with their unreported storm and sanitarysewer overflows into the Maumee River. The commission will make a serious attempt to provide the community with the truth.”
“Our waterways are our most prized possessions,” Commissioner Gary Byers noted. “As a community we need to ensure that they continue to be protected for future generations to use and enjoy. This can be accomplished by making sure that mistakes of the past are not repeated in the future.”
The scope of the commission’s work will be to determine the conditions that allowed the Maumee to make unpermitted discharges of untreated sanitary-sewage into the river without detection or knowledge by city officials or state regulators; to determine the extent to which these unpermitted discharges contribute to the degradation of the river and the western basin of Lake Erie, and to recommend measures that should be implemented by local governments and state regulators to prevent similar occurrences.
The commissioners have asked attorney Fritz Byers to chair the special commission. Joining Mr. Byers will be Michael Beazley, Oregon city administrator; Rex Huffman, attorney for Northwestern Water and Sewer District; Thomas Bridgeman, director of Lake Erie Center; Bryan Latta; Susan Heywood, attorney and Maumee resident; Warren Henry, retired Toledo water plant manager; Patekka Bannister, member of the Toledo-Lucas County sustainability commission and commissioner of plant operations Toledo department of public utilities.
