The Clean Water Act requires the U.S. EPA and Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to issue permits with requirements for controlling discharges from CSOs. As part of its permit, Fort Wayne is responsible for implementing a series of minimum CSO controls and, if water quality standards are not met, developing and implementing a long-term CSO control plan to protect river water quality.

The minimum CSO controls require communities to
(1) fully utilize the existing capacity of the wastewater collection and treatment systems,
(2) prevent pollutants from entering the combined sewers and
(3) remove as much solid and floatable material as possible from the CSOs. In some communities, the minimum controls may be adequate to achieve water quality standards.

If CSO maintenance and management practices can't reduce pollution going to the three rivers, Fort Wayne may have to take additional actions. The City will need to develop and implement a long-term CSO control plan. If required, this control plan could require identification, evaluation and implementation of various control strategies to achieve required water quality standards. Some of these controls might include increased sewer capacity for storage, increased capacity at the Water Pollution Control Plant to treat more combined sewage or mechanisms to treat flow at the points where it enters the rivers.

Long-Term CSO Plans may Include Controls such as:

• Separating stormwater from sanitary wastewater

• Using basins, pipes or tunnels to store the combined wastewater until the treatment plant can handle it

• Constructing new treatment facilities