FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1996                            (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888
                                               EPA (212) 637-3669
                                
                                
       U.S. AND PUERTO RICO AQUEDUCT AND SEWER AUTHORITY 
          REACH ACCORD ON WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS


     SAN JUAN -- The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority
(PRASA) has agreed to spend more than $20 million to bring 31 of
its wastewater treatment plants into compliance with permit
limits under an agreement announced today by the U.S. Department
of Justice and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.   PRASA will
also pay $375,000 in penalties to settle claims that its
wastewater treatment plants violated the Clean Water Act by
routinely discharging more pollution than their permits allowed
and failing to abide by Court imposed maintenance and operating
standards and a schedule for plant-by-plant improvements. 
     Under the terms of the settlement, filed in U.S. District
Court in San Juan, PRASA will conduct a study to determine which
of the plants will require the installation of advanced
wastewater treatment (AWT) technologies to meet permit
limitations.  The agreement requires PRASA to pay additional
penalties if it fails to meet the construction schedule for
installing AWT or if the plants exceed their interim permit
limits.  The Clean Water Act requires that sewage treatment
facilities remove a substantial amount of solids and organic
matter from wastewater before it is discharged into a waterway. 
However, some bodies of water have more stringent water quality
standards, requiring even higher levels of wastewater treatment,
known as AWT, in order to maintain such standards.    
     "This is a win-win agreement: both the environment and the
people of Puerto Rico will benefit," said Jeanne M. Fox, EPA
Regional Administrator.  "By bringing its plants into compliance,
PRASA will significantly improve the water quality of Puerto
Rico's rivers and streams."
     "This settlement is designed to resolve an almost two decade
old problem once and for all," said Lois Schiffer, Assistant
Attorney General in charge of the Environment and Natural
Resources Division.  "It will result in a cleaner environment for
all the people of  Puerto Rico while providing substantial
penalties that should deter noncompliance."
     This settlement ends almost 20 years of efforts by the
government to bring PRASA into compliance with its wastewater
permits.  The federal government first sued PRASA in 1978,
because  its 92 sewage plants chronically exceeded the allowable
levels of pollution discharged to the waters of Puerto Rico.  The
U.S. and PRASA reached a settlement that same year, but over the
next 5 years, PRASA failed to meet the terms of the agreement. 
     The United States brought the current lawsuit in 1983.  In
1985, and again in 1988, the federal court ordered PRASA to meet
a plant-by-plant improvement schedule and adopt numerous 
provisions relating to the operation and maintenance of the
plants.  The Court also appointed a monitor to inspect the plants
on a quarterly basis and provide a report on violations of its
orders.   
     Since that time, PRASA has made continued improvements at
its facilities.  Two-thirds of its wastewater plants have been
removed from the improvement schedule with the approval of the
court because they were either replaced by new facilities or have
been brought into compliance.  The settlement announced today
covers the remaining 31 plants still subject to the Court's 1985
order.
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96-492