The City of Portland must pay a $117,320 fine and complete four local environmental improvement projects valued at more than $500,000 to settle a penalty stemming from multiple discharges of raw sewage from the city’s separated sewer system.

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Portland City Hall, where the city council meets.

The illegal discharges occurred between March 2001 and August 2007.

The Department of Environmental Quality assessed the city $586,600 in violations for those sewer discharges.

Under the terms of the settlement, the City of Portland will pay a reduced fine in exchanges for investing in the improvements.

The improvement projects are known as Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs), which allow penalty recipients to perform environmental enhancement work to help settle an environment enforcement action.

The projects must have a monetary value that is at least equal to the penalty reduction.