The Jefferson County Commission today filed a motion to be released from the long-standing consent decree (1996) over the Jefferson County Sewer System. The County filed on the basis that it has demonstrated constant compliance for all four of the water reclamation systems remaining under the decree, there were nine facilities in total at the beginning of the decree and five have already been released. The remaining facilities were Cahaba River, Village Creek, Valley Creek, and Five-Mile Creek. The County has been in this consent decree for almost 27 years and to our knowledge it is the longest that any community has been under a consent decree under the Clean Water Act.

As stated in the filing Jefferson County Environmental Services has achieved outstanding performance in meeting the effluent standards of its NPDES permits, has significantly reduced sanitary sewer overflows, and has established operating and capital programs that are effective and sustainable for not only the four systems remaining under the consent decree but the entire water reclamation system that consists of nine water reclamation facilities that service approximately 600,000 citizens in Jefferson County and parts of Shelby and St. Clair County. The County currently manages over 3100 miles of sewer lines that treat over 100-million gallons of wastewater per day.