Sewage Leaks Prompt Lawsuit from Save the Sound

By ALFRED BRANCH (Patch Staff)

The environmental group Save the Sound has filed a federal lawsuit against 11 Westchester municipalities over alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, the organization announced last week.

The lawsuit - against Rye, Rye Brook, Scarsdale, Harrison, Larchmont, Town of Mamaroneck, Village of Mamaroneck, New Rochelle, Pelham Manor, Port Chester and White Plains - follows a similar one filed against Westchester County over the summer.

Different specific claims apply to different communities, but Save the Sound alleges that all of these municipalities “are responsible for ongoing sewage leaks of raw and inadequately treated sewage into Long Island Sound and its tributaries that risk public health, harm the environment, and violate federal, state, and county law.”

Rainwater, groundwater, and illegal hook-ups flow into cracked sewer pipes causing raw sewage to overflow onto streets and into streams before reaching a treatment plant. Since at least 2003, state, county, and municipal officials have known that much more needs to be done, and have failed to effectively address the problem.

In a statement, Tracy Brown, director of Western Sound programs for Save the Sound, said county beaches are often closed after rain storms, and shellfish cannot be harvested, because of the sewage problem.

“The presence of untreated sewage in our waters is unacceptable, and a danger to public health and the health of the Sound,” she said. “Because of old, leaking, and poorly maintained sewer pipes, Westchester beaches are closed after rain, we’re prohibited from harvesting clams or oyster in our local bays and harbors, and we’re at risk for waterborne illnesses. Nitrogen from sewage contributes to low-oxygen dead zones—including a major one right off Westchester’s shores every summer—and to large, unsightly mats of nuisance algae.”

The western Sound and waters surrounding Westchester County got a D+ in an ecological report cardreleased in June 2015. Save the Sound’s own water quality monitoring found significant and disturbing bacterial pollution in Westchester waters in the summers of 2013, 2014, and 2015, “confirming what officials have known for over a decade—local waterways are polluted with high levels of fecal bacteria.” Sewage contains high levels of nitrogen that rob the Sound of oxygen and pathogenic bacteria that can cause diarrhea, pink eye, ear infections, and serious illnesses.

“Pollution entering the Sound from sewage leaks and overflows has gone on too long and needs to be stopped,” said Soundkeeper Terry Backer in a statement. “Soundkeeper is happy to be a part of this legal action to get resolution to this ongoing issue.”

The lawsuit calls on the municipalities and the County “to fix leaking pipes, establish enforceable timelines for repairs, develop sufficient funding sources for future maintenance, and establish a plan for the long term maintenance of the sewage collection systems to avoid future pollution and costly repairs.”

Specifically, Save the Sound’s suit alleges that:

1. The County and the 11 municipalities illegally discharged raw sewage into rivers and Long Island Sound through Sanitary Sewer Overflows, and created a public nuisance by discharging raw and partially treated sewage that resulted in beach and shellfish bed closings and other harms.
2. The County failed to enforce the Westchester County Sewer Act against all the municipalities as required by its Clean Water Act permits, and failed to require municipalities to reduce their flow as required by a 2008 Consent Order with the State. A recent study shows that all municipalities are violating the Sewer Act which sets a limit on flow designed to prevent the kind of sewage overflows that plague the region.
3. The County and the municipalities of New Rochelle, Town of Mamaroneck, Village of Larchmont, and Village of Pelham Manor have illegally discharged partially treated sewage from large underground sewage tanks, known as Overflow Retention Facilities.
4. The Town/Village of Harrison, the Town of Mamaroneck, the Village of Mamaroneck, the City of Rye, the Village of Scarsdale, and the City of White Plains violated their stormwater discharge permits by discharging raw and inadequately treated sewage from their stormwater systems.
5. Westchester County, the Village of Mamaroneck, the Village of Port Chester, the City of Rye, and the Village of Rye Brook discharged pollutants in violation of the permit limits at the Blind Brook and Port Chester Sewage Treatment Plants.

Patch file photo of Long Island Sound.