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National Enforcement Investigations Center
Case Results - Lafayette, LA
Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO)
Investigation Support & Training
NEIC's Support:
•	Forensics-based field
investigations accredited
under iSO/iEC: 17025
•	CWA expertise
•	Inspection Training
NEIC's Other Capabilities:
•	Laboratory analyses
accredited under ISO/IEC:
17025, General
Requirements for the
Competence of Testing and
Calibration Laboratories
•	Interpretation of analytical
results
•	Statistical services
•	Toxicological expertise
•	CAA, 112r, EPCRA, and
RCRA expertise
Background: The Lafayette Utilities System (Lafayette) operates four wastewater
treatment plants (WWTPs) to serve the city of Lafayette and some unincorporated
areas of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana. EPA Region 6 issued a series of enforcement
orders to Lafayette beginning in the 1990s for Clean Water Act (CWA)
noncompliance. Those orders were closed by 2008 after Lafayette had spent $173
million for wastewater treatment plant and collection system upgrades.
NEIC's support: In April 2017, at the request of EPA Region 6, NEIC conducted a
CWA compliance investigation at Lafayette that focused on sanitary sewer overflows
(SSOs) that resulted in raw sewage spills. As part of the investigation, NEIC also
provided training to two state inspectors and two EPA regional inspectors. Records
reviewed during the inspection revealed that Lafayette's SSOs occurred 2 to 4 times
more frequently than the median national benchmarks, as Lafayette reported 288
SSOs from 2014 through 2016.
The NEIC report documented that
when reporting overflows in the
collection system, Lafayette was not
including all required information in its
discharge monitoring report (DMR)
submittals, and that Lafayette was not
properly operating and maintaining all
facilities and systems of treatment and
control at its WWTPs. Furthermore,
the utility was found to lack a public
notification process for SSO events.
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Enforcement results: In June 2018, EPA Region 6 issued an administrative order that resulted in:
•	$6.3 million in injunctive relief to reduce ongoing releases of sanitary waste (ammonia, biochemical oxygen
demand [BOD], total suspended solids (TSS), and fecal coliform bacteria).
•	Reduction of 25,000 gallons per eliminated SSO of untreated sewage discharges and associated
contaminants.
EPA Region 6 reported that the inspectors who were trained during this project applied what they had learned
to address similar CWA noncompliance at a nearby city's wastewater treatment system, which resulted in an
administrative order to bring that facility into compliance.
How to obtain NEIC's support
NEIC provides environmental forensics support for criminal and civil enforcement cases. If you would like more
information on NEIC or to request laboratory analysis, toxicological support, an investigation, technical assistance,
or training from NEIC, please contact us at neic project requests(5)epa.gov. You may also contact your regional
enforcement coordinator for more information on requesting NEIC's support on civil projects and EPA's Criminal
Investigation Division (CID) for support on criminal projects.
NEIC | Denver Federal Center, Building 25 | Denver, Colorado | 303.462.9000

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