The Jefferson County Commission filed a motion this week to be freed from a 1996 consent decree over its sewer systems.

Under that decree, the county agreed to update its sewer systems to follow Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards and improve water quality in the Black Warrior and Cahaba River systems as mandated by the U.S. Justice Department, according to a 2011 Birmingham News article.

The improvements were part of the county’s $3.14 billion sewer debt when it filed for the largest and most expensive municipal bankruptcy ($4.23 billion total) in American history at that time. The county’s financial disaster was compounded by nearly two dozen county officials being eventually convicted of federal bribery and conspiracy charges between 2005-2010, as noted in previous AL.com articles.

Jefferson County sewer customers have been paying annual rate increases as a result of the bankruptcy agreement, and this will continue regardless of the outcome of this week’s motion.

”Had they just done the right maintenance back in the day, we wouldn’t have been bankrupt, and your water and sewer bill wouldn’t be so much each month,” said Birmingham lawyer Bart Slawson, who filed the original lawsuit against Jefferson County for environmental violations.