Feds Serve Mount Vernon With Court Order Over Raw Sewage

MOUNT VERNON, NY — A federal District Court has ordered the city of Mount Vernon to fix its long-broken sewer system, which has sent raw sewage into residents' homes and the Bronx and Hutchinson rivers for years as officials ignored orders from environmental agencies and racked up $90 million in penalties.

U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel issued the order and permanent injunction Monday, over a lawsuit brought by the United States and New York State.

Audrey Strauss, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, cited Mount Vernon’s longstanding failure to comply with its Clean Water Act obligations, including flouting EPA administrative orders.

"I am pleased that the City of Mount Vernon is being required to take the appropriate actions to protect its residents and downstream communities from threats posed by raw sewage and other pollutants," said Peter D. Lopez, Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Many municipalities, like Mount Vernon, operate separate storm sewer systems that carry storm water and discharge it without treatment into nearby waters. Because separate storm sewer systems do not treat the water they discharge, a municipality is required by its Clean Water Act permit to maintain a program for identifying and eliminating any sewage or other illicit pollutants that are flowing into the storm sewers. Mount Vernon has refused.

The city's sanitary sewage system includes more than 195 miles of sewer lines, 3,200 catch-basins and 3,000 manholes. Broken pipes and illegal hook-ups mean that raw sewage ends up in the storm drains. As CBS2's Lou Young pointed out in 2016, the residents are basically defecating in the Bronx and Hutchinson rivers, which run like an open sewer through the city. Everyone can see it, and smell it.

As the orders mounted from state and federal officials, then-Mayor Richard Thomas proposed a $2 million study of the system in 2016, using technology to snake through those 195 miles of pipes to find out where storm water is entering and overwhelming the system. But the City Council rejected that idea as too ambitious and expensive.

In 2017 the New York Department of Environmental Conservation imposed a $55,000 fine on Mount Vernon for yet another pollution problem. The DEC said city officials and employees actively polluted the Hutchinson River at the public works department, with illegal dumping, storing unpermitted waste, and dumping waste into the river. It was the second fine from the DEC in 2017 — the first was $40,ooo for illegal dumping at Memorial Field.

Finally, in 2018, the United States filed a complaint about the sewer system in White Plains federal court.

Answering the lawsuit, Mount Vernon did not dispute that it was liable for violating the Clean Water Act, and admitted that it was not in compliance with its legal obligations, Strauss said.

The Court ordered Mount Vernon to:

• Track down and identify all sources of illicit discharge for impaired storm sewer system outfalls, and eliminate all sources of illicit discharge;
• Perform necessary construction and repairs for impaired outfalls;
• Complete inspections to ensure detection of future illicit discharge;
• Obtain the necessary equipment, staffing, and funding to comply with its Clean Water Act and permit obligations;
• Develop an updated storm water management plan;
• Perform a sewer system evaluation survey of the sanitary sewer system to identify possible discharges of sewage and develop a sewer system corrective action plan; and
• Submit periodic reports to EPA and New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation.

The Court deferred a determination of civil penalties owed by Mount Vernon until a later date.

It's not the only pollution for which the city has been responsible but unresponsive. SEE: More Pollution, Another Fine For Mount Vernon.

SEE ALSO: US Sues City Whose Raw Sewage Flows Freely