The city of Sandy must pay $500,000 to state and federal agencies to settle several Clean Water Act violations from the past six years.
Since 2017, the city’s wastewater treatment facility regularly released more pollutants than environmental permits allowed, polluting Tickle Creek and the Clackamas River, according to a legal complaint.
City leaders recently reached a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. As part of the agreement, the city of Sandy will pay $500,000 in penalties, split evenly between the U.S. Treasury and the state.
The city’s penalty to the state could be reduced to $50,000 if it makes significant progress by 2028.
Sandy leaders have also agreed to limit sewer hookups — meaning fewer homes and businesses can be added to its sewer system — until it can show its wastewater plant can handle the additional load. The city already paused accepting applications for new sewer connections in October 2022.
The settlement also requires the city to make certain improvements to its wastewater facility by the end of October and to submit reports every six months detailing its progress in meeting other terms of the agreement.
The city of Sandy has permits allowing its facility to discharge treated wastewater into Tickle Creek, which feeds into the Clackamas River and then the Willamette River, during winter months. The permits limit the amount of pollutants the city can discharge into waterways, including E. coli, ammonia and “total suspended solids.”
The legal complaint filed by regulators says the city violated its environmental permits hundreds of times since 2017, releasing a “high volume” of waste.
In a statement, Sandy officials said they’re already working on improvements to the wastewater treatment facility. They said the decades-old treatment plant hasn’t kept up with rapid population growth — Census data shows the city’s population more than doubled between 2000 and 2020, growing from 5,600 to 12,600. Officials expect the population to double again over the next 20 years.
City officials added that Sandy is regulated by stricter water pollution rules, namely the Oregon DEQ’s Three Basin Rule, which limits pollution discharges in the North Santiam, McKenzie and Clackamas basins.
“We acknowledge that the City incurred a number of permit violations in past years, before the substantial improvements currently in progress under the Sandy Clean Waters program,” city officials said in their statement.
They said they plan to spend $133 million improving the city system over the next few years. Sandy has obtained $16 million in state and federal grants, as well as $30 million in low-interest loans. Officials plan to apply for additional state and federal funding, the statement says.
Sandy has also dramatically increased storm utility rates. Since 2019, the city has raised rates by 208%, and system development charges for new construction have increased by 234%.