A federal court order governs the work, while local government decides how to pay for it.
This article is the third and final installment in a Dotte Dispatch series examining how the Unified Government (UG) is funding federally mandated sewer improvements and why those decisions matter to residents and ratepayers.
The first two articles focused on a $39 million Consent Decree funding request, how it moved through the UG’s committee and commission process, and why its path raised questions among some commissioners. This final installment steps back to explain the Consent Decree itself, what federal law requires, and why timing and funding decisions carry real consequences.
The federal Consent Decree that guides sewer and stormwater work in Kansas City, Kansas (KCK) is not a policy preference or a long-term goal. It is a binding court order that requires specific infrastructure improvements to be completed on a defined schedule.
The UG entered into a Consent Decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to address long-standing issues related to combined sewer overflows. These overflows occur when heavy rain overwhelms older sewer systems that carry both wastewater and stormwater in the same pipes, resulting in untreated sewage being discharged into local waterways. According to UG staff, most of the combined system exists on the City’s east side.
Why KCK Has A Consent Decree
Many older cities across the country were built with combined sewer systems. At the time, this design was common, efficient, and legal. However, over time, the public health and environmental impacts of untreated sewage discharges became better understood.
These impacts are addressed under the federal Clean Water Act, which regulates how wastewater is treated and limits when pollutants may be discharged into rivers and streams. Under the Clean Water Act, combined sewer overflows are considered violations of federal law unless they are properly controlled.
Federal agencies have several tools to enforce compliance. They can pursue penalties for individual violations, require immediate corrective action, or negotiate longer-term compliance plans. For communities with large, aging sewer systems, immediate compliance is often not financially feasible.
In KCK, the UG entered into a Consent Decree with the EPA and DOJ as a way to resolve enforcement claims while establishing a structured path toward compliance. Once approved by a federal court, the agreement became a binding court order that specifies what work must be done, sets timelines and performance benchmarks, and allows the work to proceed over many years rather than through constant litigation and fines. The UG’s Consent Decree requires roughly $1 billion worth of upgrades over a roughly 20-year period.
The UG does not have the option to ignore or unilaterally change the terms of the agreement. Federal regulators must approve any modifications to the schedule or scope, and failures to meet required obligations can trigger enforcement action, including fines.
How Consent Decrees Typically Take Shape
Consent Decrees are not imposed overnight. They are usually the result of years of regulatory review, data collection, and enforcement discussions between federal agencies and local governments. According to staff, the UG began its negotiations more than a decade ago, with the final terms being approved in 2016 and 2017.
Under the Clean Water Act, regulators first document violations and assess whether compliance can reasonably be achieved through routine corrections. When full compliance requires major capital construction, federal agencies may pursue formal enforcement while also negotiating a long-term solution.
A Consent Decree is typically reached only after investigations are complete and both sides agree that a court-approved plan is preferable to ongoing litigation and repeated penalties. By the time a decree is signed, the scope of work and overall schedule already reflect what regulators consider achievable.
Once approved by a federal judge, the agreement becomes enforceable as a court order, with defined milestones and deadlines.
How Combined Sewer Systems Drive Project Costs
In a combined system, a single pipe carries both wastewater from homes and businesses, as well as stormwater from rain and snow. During dry weather or light rainstorms, the system functions as intended. During heavy rain or major thunderstorms, the volume of stormwater entering the system can exceed the capacity of treatment plants and pipes to handle.
When this happens, overflow points release untreated water into local waterways to prevent backups into homes and streets. The Consent Decree requires these overflows to be reduced through activities such as installing new pipes, constructing storage tunnels, upgrading pump stations, and increasing wastewater treatment plant capacity.
These projects are large, complex, and expensive. They are also interdependent. Delays in one phase can affect the timing and cost of future phases and projects.
Why Sewer Projects are Funded Through Sewer Fees
Federal regulators enforce the Consent Decree based on whether the required objectives are completed on schedule and in compliance with federal law. The agreement does not prescribe how those activities must be funded.
Decisions about financing are left to the local government. In KCK, the UG funds the sewer system’s operation, maintenance, and upgrades through an enterprise fund supported by user fees, rather than general revenue, like property or sales taxes.
Enterprise funds are commonly used for water, sewer, and stormwater utility systems. For example, the Board of Public Utilities is an enterprise fund. Enterprise funds separate utility finances from general government operations, ensuring that the cost of service is borne by the users of the system. Residents who flush toilets or send wastewater into the sewer system are users of that system.
Not all residents in KCK are connected to the sewer system. Some households rely on septic systems and do not use municipal sewer service. Funding sewer infrastructure through user fees ensures that those who use the system pay for it, rather than spreading those costs across all taxpayers regardless of use.
In KCK, property tax revenue does not fund Consent Decree activities. Decisions about rates, long-term financing, and capital investment are made within the enterprise fund structure.
What Happens if Projects Fall Behind?
The UG’s Consent Decree includes enforcement provisions. If required activities are delayed or milestones are missed, the UG can face fines or other enforcement actions from federal regulators.
The Consent Decree does not assign a single flat fine to each missed activity or milestone. Instead, it is backed by the federal government’s enforcement authority under the Clean Water Act, which allows regulators to seek civil penalties on a per-day basis for ongoing violations. While the UG’s settlement resolved earlier claims and established a long-term compliance plan, it explicitly preserves the government’s right to pursue additional penalties or injunctive relief if required work falls behind or obligations are not met.
Those penalties must still be paid. In practice, they are absorbed by the sewer system, the same entity that funds construction, operations, maintenance, upgrades, and existing debt service. Delays do not eliminate costs. Delays shift costs forward and can increase them.
In addition to potential fines, falling behind can result in multiple project phases overlapping or conflicting later. That can raise construction costs and increase pressure to adjust sewer rates more sharply. Delays can also trigger litigation with construction contractors regarding missed payments.
Why Funding Timing Matters
Consent Decree activities are planned years in advance in many cases. Construction schedules, staffing, and contracts are built around expected funding timelines.
When funding is delayed, work can stall even if projects are already designed and permitted. Crews may be reassigned, contracts may be paused, and schedules may be reshuffled. Restarting that work later often costs more than continuing as planned.
UG officials have stated that several Consent Decree projects were delayed in recent months due to uncertainty surrounding funding authorization.
A Long-Term Obligation with Real Consequences
The Consent Decree will remain in effect until all required work is completed and approved by federal regulators. It does not expire based on local policy preferences or budget debates.
For residents and ratepayers, the central question is not whether the work will be done. It is a matter of when and at what cost.
Funding decisions made today shape how smoothly the remaining years of Consent Decree compliance unfold and how predictable sewer rates will be over time.
