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1. What is the Consent Order?

The consent order is a special order issued to the City of Salem by DEQ. It lists known issues, such as sanitary sewer overflows, that have or may have potentially caused the prohibited discharge of sewage into State waters. The Consent Order allows Salem to continue operating its sanitary sewer system but requires us to continually make improvements to prevent future issues. As a result, Salem follows a Corrective Action Plan aimed at eliminating sanitary sewer overflows through maintenance, repair, and upgrades to the sanitary sewer system. Many of these corrective actions are aimed at reducing inflow and infiltration (I and I).

2. How does the Consent Order affect me?

We all share in the responsibility and cost of sewer maintenance. The Consent Order is an acknowledgment that there are problems with the City's sanitary sewer system that need to be fixed. The City of Salem employs a variety of methods to investigate, assess, maintain, repair, and replace sanitary sewer facilities. Some of these activities may result in traffic delays due to temporary lane closures. Current work locations that are potentially affected by the Consent Order can be found in the sidebar on the City's main website page - The City of Salem Facebook feed.

Sanitary sewer overflows have the potential to contaminate the land and water we use for recreation. The City is following a Corrective Action Plan aimed at eliminating overflows. This plan benefits everyone by reducing inflow and infiltration (I and I), which in turn reduces the cost of wastewater treatment. It also reduces the likelihood of a sewage backup in a home.

• Sewer Backups and Overflows
• Report a Problem

3. What is the Salem Water Department doing?

Salem is committed to reducing sanitary sewer overflows through all of the following methods:

• Inflow and Infiltration Investigation (smoke testing, dye testing, CCTV inspection cameras, push cameras, sewer shed metering, manhole inspections, etc.)
• Evaluation (pipeline assessment by NASSCO certified professionals, sewer shed metering, sewer modeling, acoustic survey, criticality assessment based on pipe age, material, size, and location)
• Chemical Root removal
• Cleaning (vacuum excavation, water jet washing)
• Pipe repair and/or lining
• Manhole rehabilitation
• Sewer infrastructure replacement and upgrades