Communities surrounding California’s San Francisco Bay will invest some $1.5 billion over the next 21 years to upgrade 1,500 miles of sewer-system infrastructure as a result of a consent decree lodged in federal court on July 28.
The Clean Water Settlement was hammered out by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the East Bay Municipal Water District (EBMUD) and seven East Bay communities: Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, Piedmont and the Stege sanitary district.