DEM Fines Town Nearly $187K for Water Pollution

Less than 24 hours after the Portsmouth Town Council passed on a Wastewater Management Plan, the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) announced in a press release Thursday that it intends to fine the town more than $186,000.

On Wednesday, the town council unanimously shot down a drafted ordinance calling for the replacement of all cesspools in Portsmouth Park and Island Park neighborhoods. The ordinance did not include any mention of sewers.

The town planner was asked to return to the board in late October with a revised Wastewater Management Plan.

However, on Thursday, DEM fined the town for "long-standing failure."

"The Department of Environmental Management has issued a notice of violation to the town of Portsmouth for its long-standing failure to prevent or mitigate the discharge of sewage from storm water drainage pipes in the Island Park and Portsmouth Park neighborhoods into The Cove and Sakonnet River," according to the press release issued by DEM. "The notice orders the town to complete a facilities plan and initiate construction of a wastewater treatment system, and assesses a penalty of $186,019.

"Decades-long problems with inadequate on-site sewage treatment throughout these neighborhoods have resulted in numerous overflows of sewage into the town-owned storm drain system and subsequently into The Cove and Sakonnet River. As a result, these waters have been closed to shellfish harvesting and subject to a swimming advisory. These waters are considered class SA surface water bodies and their designated uses include shellfish harvesting for direct human consumption and primary contact recreation."

According to DEM, the state agency has provided the town with more than $300,000 in grants. DEM says that a condition of the most recent grant was for the town to submit a final wastewater facilities plan. 

At Wednesday's town council meeting, one resident questioned the council about a "facilities plan," which was not listed on the agenda. The council said they would have to further look into the matter.

In December 2009, the town's consultant, Woodard & Curran, submitted the wastewater facilities plan to the town which documented that certain areas of town, including Portsmouth Park and Island Park, require sewer service, according to DEM.

The plan said that a "no-build" alternative, under which cesspools would be removed and replaced with upgraded on-site systems and a Wastewater Management District would be implemented, will likely result in continued fecal coliform contamination in the Sakonnet River and The Cove.  However, the Portsmouth Town Council has decided to not submit the wastewater facilities plan to DEM and instead continue with the use of onsite wastewater systems and develop a wastewater management district ordinance, according to the state agency.

"DEM has been working diligently with the town to resolve this problem for many years, but unfortunately the town has decided to disregard the recommendations of numerous engineering studies which point to sewers as the only viable solution for appropriate wastewater disposal in the Portsmouth Park and Island Park neighborhoods," said DEM Director W. Michael Sullivan.

In May 2005, the town was informed of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's approval of the DEM completed water quality restoration plan for the Sakonnet River at Portsmouth Park and the Cove at Island Park to address the impacts to shellfish harvesting and swimming from improperly treated sewage. The restoration plan recommended that the town complete a comprehensive town-wide wastewater facilities plan and storm water management strategy and eliminate illicit connections to its storm drain system.

"EPA supports the work being done by DEM to require construction of a wastewater treatment plant in Portsmouth. Protecting our water from such basic pollutants as raw sewage is obviously in the best interests of the town, the health of Rhode Island citizens and the health and vitality of our environment," said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's New England office.

According to DEM, inadequate sewage disposal problems were first documented by DEM or the U.S. FDA in 1965 during a shoreline survey of Island Park and Portsmouth Park.

In Island Park, a high-density residential neighborhood in a flat seaside area, 13 storm water drainage pipes convey storm water from throughout the neighborhood to The Cove and the Sakonnet River. 

In Portsmouth Park, a medium and high density residential area on a hillside, five storm water drainage pipes convey storm water from throughout the neighborhood to the Sakonnet River. The pipes, known as the Island Park and Portsmouth Park storm water drainage system, are owned by the town.

Surveys conducted from 1965 to the present continue to document water pollution violations, according to DEM. 

Beginning in 1973, the Sakonnet River along the shorelines of Island Park was closed to shellfish harvesting, and the area was expanded to include additional waters off Portsmouth Park in 1988; both areas have remained closed since that time. In 1980, shellfish grounds in the southern portion of The Cove were and still remain closed.

The evidence of sewage in the drainage pipes and groundwater seeps along the shorelines of Island Park and Portsmouth Park have also resulted in the issuance of a swimming advisory in the area by the Department of Health. The shellfish harvesting prohibitions affected 109 acres in The Cove and 180 acres in the Sakonnet River.

The most recent evidence of this ongoing water pollution was documented by DEM last month. On Aug. 26, DEM inspected a property at Aquidneck Avenue in Portsmouth and found that sewage from the property's onsite wastewater treatment system was discharging onto the ground and into one of the Portsmouth Park pipes.  The DEM inspector observed that sewage was directly entering into the Sakonnet River.

The town will have 30 days to respond to the notice of violation.

They are also ordered by DEM to submit a report of the final findings of the Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDDE) program; revise and submit the Onsite Wastewater Management Plan to be consistent with the Wastewater Facilities Plan; and submit a Wastewater Facilities Plan and response to comments.

The town is also ordered to submit an Order of Approval Application for a wastewater treatment facility serving Island Park and Portsmouth Park within two years of DEM's approval of the Wastewater Facilities Plan, and to complete construction within three years of issuance of an Order of Approval.

Phone calls to both the town administrator and the town solicitor were not returned Friday.