Collaborative settlements result in repairs to sewer lines and $300,000 of Environmental Benefit Payments for local water quality improvement projects
Save the Sound has reached settlements with both the Village of Scarsdale and the City of Rye stemming from a Clean Water Act case filed by Save the Sound in 2015 against Westchester County and 11 municipalities to address pollution from raw sewage discharges from aging sewer pipes. The settlement with Scarsdale is the seventh to date. Save the Sound previously reached resolution with the City of Port Chester, Village of Mamaroneck, City of White Plains, Village of Rye Brook, City of Rye, and the Town/Village of Harrison.
Altogether, the settlements have resulted in more than $550,000 worth of environmental benefit payments and projects directed toward restoring water quality in Long Island Sound and local waterways and tens of millions of dollars invested to study and repair almost 300 miles of sewer lines with more than 16,000 identified defects.
Scarsdale
The agreement with Scarsdale was signed by the judge on August 2, 2023, and is the result of negotiations that have been taking place since 2016. The Village agreed to study and repair the 82 miles of sanitary sewer pipe in its town and repair the 755 defects found during the investigation. Because Scarsdale began the work early on in the negotiations, it is now largely completed. Additionally, the Village has modified its sewer management practices to reduce the chances of the system reaching a state of disrepair in the future. Scarsdale also passed a local ordinance back in February to reduce excess flow into the system by requiring inspection, testing, repair, and maintenance of private sewer lines by their owners.
The Village also will pay $150,000 toward local projects designed to benefit water quality in a Scarsdale tributary to Long Island Sound. A plan for a project to biologically treat stormwater entering Audrey Hochberg Pond is due by December 6, 2023.
Rye
The settlement with Rye, signed by the judge on August 15, 2023, is a new agreement resolving delays in the City’s work under the original settlement (issued in February 2021). In the initial settlement, Rye agreed to (1) study and repair 52 miles of sewer pipe addressing more than 5,000 defects that were discovered; (2) study and adopt financial measures in order to cover repair and remediation projects; (3) implement ongoing operational and management measures; (4) perform an environmental benefit project to expend $150,000 to improve the water quality of Blind Brook (which flows into Long Island Sound) by treating stormwater from the Locust Avenue parking lot. In this new settlement, the City of Rye agreed to a revised timetable to finish the various repairs and commitments and to fund a second water quality improvement project (also $150,000) at the Rye Recreation Center.
Save the Sound is represented in the litigation by Super Law Group. Save the Sound Senior Legal Director Roger Reynolds: “We are pleased that the Village of Scarsdale is addressing sewage pollution that has plagued communities across Westchester County for too long, and that the City of Rye has recommitted to completing measures necessary to prevent sewage discharges to local waters. Their actions will directly benefit local waters and Long Island Sound. Aging and inadequate sewer collection systems endanger public health and threaten the environment across the Long Island Sound watershed – risks exacerbated by climate change and storm events that are increasing in frequency and severity. Poorly maintained sewer pipes are a significant reason that beaches are closed after rain and that harvesting oysters and clams in Westchester County bays and harbors is prohibited. Our legal team will continue to take action under the Clean Water Act across the region to ensure that Long Island Sound remains clean, fishable, and swimmable.”
