A Clean Water Act lawsuit that sought to impose odor controls on D.C. Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) sewer pipes has been rejected by a federal court. The lawsuit, filed by the American Canoe Association and other environmental groups, charged that WASA violated the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System because of hydrogen sulfide emissions from city sewers, but the judge ruled that finding for the plaintiffs would open the floodgates to citizen lawsuits against wastewater treatment plant operators.

WASA is in the process of upgrading sewer vents with state-of-the-art odor controls. A copy of the opinion is attached.