FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1995                          (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888
                                 
           METRO DADE COUNTY WILL UPGRADE SEWAGE SYSTEM 
            UNDER CLEAN WATER ACT AGREEMENT WITH U.S.

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Metropolitan Dade County, Florida, has
agreed to spend over a half billion dollars to repair its sewage
system whose deteriorated condition led to more than 3,000 spills
of raw wastes into streets and waterways since 1990, the
Department of Justice said today. 
     The county, which includes Miami, also will pay a $2 million
civil fine, the largest penalty ever paid by a local government
under the Clean Water Act, and conduct local environmental
programs valued at $5 million.  
     The upgrade, whose total cost is estimated between $500
million and $800 million, was approved today by the Metropolitan
Dade County Board of Commissioners to resolve federal claims
against the county and its water department.  Currently, the
agreement is under review by the U.S. Attorney's office in Miami,
the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department, which
expects to lodge a proposed consent decree in U.S. District Court
in Miami in the near future.  
     "Today's agreement will eliminate a serious public health
threat to the citizens of Dade County while implementing measures
to protect the environment," said Assistant Attorney General Lois
Schiffer, head of the Environment and Natural Resource Division. 
     Parties to the agreement are the United States, which
represented the EPA, and the defendants: Metropolitan Dade
County, the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Authority Department and
the state of Florida.    
     The defendants will spend $1 million of the $5 million in
supplemental environmental projects to install water saving
toilets and shower heads in the homes of qualified low-income
families to conserve water, and spend $4 million to construct a
wastewater treatment plant and pipeline to irrigate public areas
with treated wastewater. 
     They also are required to implement a number of long-term
and short-term remedial measures so they can comply with the
Clean Water Act on a permanent, consistent basis.  
     These include a comprehensive program to repair,
rehabilitate and upgrade the sewage collection system to identify
and eliminate groundwater and storm water flows into their sewage
system.  They also must institute a program to inspect, repair
and upgrade pump stations to ensure that each station can handle
sewage flows.  Failure to meet this term could result in the
suspension of additional hook-ups to the system.  
     The proposed consent decree also requires the defendants to
enact an ordinance to require each Dade County municipality to
institute the same remedial measures the defendants are required
to institute under the proposed consent decree.   
     In addition, the defendants must complete each of these
measures pursuant to the schedules in the consent decree or be
subject to significant penalties as stipulated in the decree. 
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95-073