Feds Sue Mount Vernon To Force Sewer Cleanup

MOUNT VERNON, NY — For almost 20 years Mount Vernon officials have refused to act to clean up the city's failing sewage system. That has meant raw sewage and its accompaniments dumped directly into the Hutchinson River — and often spewed into residents' homes. Over years of wrangling, city officials have ignored several orders from state and federal officials as the system has failed.

The Environmental Protection Agency told Mount Vernon back in April that its patience had run out. Still nothing's been done.

Now, the Department of Justice has formally announced its intention to file suit against the City of Mount Vernon based on its violation of the Clean Water Act and its noncompliance with previous EPA orders. The DOJ said it also plans to levy a "significant monetary penalty."

Apparently the city has promised some "supplemental environmental projects" — which could reduce the amount of the penalty — but the Department of Justice letter Aug. 4 requires that city officials actually send them a description of each project ASAP.

The penalty is likely to run into the millions and significantly impact property taxes, said Mayor Richard Thomas. That would be an additional hardship for residents who have had to live for two decades with raw sewage, sometimes backed up into their yards and homes.

Back in April, CBSNew York reported that the city was looking at $90 million in penalties.

The city's sewage system includes more than 195 miles of sewer lines, 3,200 catch-basins and 3,000 manholes. But since it doesn't work, as CBS2's Lou Young pointed out in 2016, the residents are basically defecating in the river, which runs like an open sewer through the city. Everyone can see it, and smell it.

In 2016, Thomas proposed a $2 million study of the system, 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. City Council members instead recommended concentrating first on high-priority areas, according to CBS2.

There has been no information about how highest-priority areas would be identified or addressed.

It cost the village of Port Chester $15 million to fix its sewage system under an order from the EPA, CBS reported.

"The cost of defiance is far more expensive than compliance," the mayor said at a press conference Thursday.