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R-14-03 A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF PORTSMOUTH AND THE HAMPTON ROADS SANITATION DISTRICT REGARDING A REGIONAL CONSENT ORDER PERTAINING TO SANITARY SEWER OVERFLOWS. WHEREAS, the City of Portsmouth and twelve other Hampton Roads localities have entered into a consent order with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to address wet weather sanitary sewer overflows; and WHEREAS, the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) has executed a similar consent order with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and WHEREAS, the consent orders require the development of a wet weather plan to ensure adequate sewer system capacity during wet weather events; and WHEREAS, HRSD and all localities in the region participated in a year-long study to determine whether regionalization was a viable and more cost-effective way to comply with the consent orders; and WHEREAS, the study was completed in Summer 2013 and concluded that regionalization would be an effective solution that could potentially save a collective $1 billion in the region; and WHEREAS, because of the reluctance of some localities to support a regional sewer system, HRSD developed a hybrid proposal whereby HRSD would be responsible for the wet weather management plan and associated capital improvements, but the localities would still own and operate their individual sewer collection systems; and WHEREAS, in particular, under the hybrid proposal, Portsmouth will still own, maintain, and operate its sewer system, while HRSD will provide compliance with the consent order and assume liability for any future wet weather capacity-related overflows; and WHEREAS, under the hybrid proposal, HRSD will also pay for all necessary capital improvements related to wet weather capacity, allowing Portsmouth and the other localities to avoid this significant expense; and WHEREAS, the hybrid proposal allows for the possibility of future regionalization of the sewer system should circumstances change; and WHEREAS, if the hybrid proposal is adopted by the region's localities, the consent orders will be modified to reflect these changes in responsibilities, and Portsmouth will be relieved of liability for wet weather sanitary sewer overflows and for construction of wet weather capacity related improvements.