DeKalb County and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told U.S. District Judge Steven Grimberg on Thursday that it’s replacing a 15-year-old agreement with the federal government over the county’s sewage spills.
The agreement — called a consent decree — outlines decades of upgrades to the county’s sewage infrastructure. It has major influence over county operations — the agreement undergirds the county’s long-term planning, what projects it prioritizes and picks for funding, and drives policy goals.
The consent decree came from a settlement between DeKalb County and the U.S. EPA back in 2011, after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Georgia Environmental Protection Division over its failing sewage infrastructure.
But DeKalb hasn’t met many of its deadlines. In 2020, a judge agreed to push the deadlines back to 2027. Last year, on his last day in office, former DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond announced the county wouldn’t meet that deadline. The county then went back to court, asking for another extension.
But at a hearing on the case in April 2025, Grimberg said he wasn’t keen on another extension and modification of the legal agreement. He emphasized that DeKalb needed to face consequences for repeated failure to adhere to its legal promises. Grimberg said any extension would come with a steep fine.
Plus, Grimberg said, DeKalb was asking to change so much in its extension it wasn’t just adjusting or modifying its agreement with the EPA — it was a total rewrite, which requires a totally different legal process.
And that’s what DeKalb and the EPA are doing.
Writing a new consent decree
Attorneys for the county and the EPA have been attending virtual and in-person mediation sessions for the last few months, working to agree on new terms for a second modified consent decree.
DeKalb and the EPA told Grimberg that the mediation has been going well, and they’ve made significant progress on drafting a new agreement. They said there aren’t any major hang-ups in the negotiations, but rewriting the document is a massive undertaking, and both parties need higher-ups within their organizations to review the agreement before completing a draft.
But Grimberg told DeKalb and the EPA he’s frustrated with how slowly this process has been going — he said he was hoping by this time to have received some sort of draft proposal at this point.
He emphasized that DeKalb needs to provide relief to county residents faster, and that both parties should include higher-ups from state and federal agencies sooner to avoid the agreement getting bogged down in bureaucratic reviews.
The county and EPA did not state a particular deadline set for when a draft of the new agreement would be finished.
Grimberg scheduled another hearing in 60 days to check in on DeKalb and EPA’s progress.
DeKalb County’s other water proposals
DeKalb County is working on several other fronts to remedy issues in its water and wastewater system amidst this court battle.
In early 2025, the DeKalb Board of Commissioners passed a big, decade-long rate increase to raise money for water and sewage infrastructure needs — partly, they argued, because money was needed for projects to bring the county into compliance with its consent decree agreement with the EPA.
Now, the county is considering a stormwater utility rate increase.
