Sludge Watch ==> Yonkers and NY State settle Bronx River sewage case

[Maureen Reilly]

Yonkers, state settle Bronx River sewage case
By DAVID MCKAY WILSON
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: January 14, 2007)



YONKERS - The city will pay the state $802,000 in fines and commit $2.2 
million for projects to end the flow of raw sewage into the Bronx River 
under an agreement ending 21 months of legal wrangling.

The pact, reached late last month, is the latest of several resulting from 
former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's Bronx River Watershed Initiative. 
Spitzer took action resulting in fines against several municipalities and 
private entities - including Greenburgh, Mount Vernon, Scarsdale, White 
Plains and Yonkers Raceway - accused of polluting the river that runs from 
central Westchester through the Bronx to the Long Island Sound.

James Sutton, a Yonkers environmentalist who serves as executive director of 
the Bronx River Parkway Reservation Conservancy, said the cleanup ordered by 
the consent judgment will clean up a water body that he believes has 
recreational potential. Sutton kayaked the river from Bronxville to the 
Bronx Zoo last July. One day, he'd like to see the river clean enough to 
swim in.

"Right now I tell people that the water's fine, just don't swallow it," he 
said. "It's great to see it getting cleaned up. The Bronx River is one of 
the few rivers in our region and it should be hallowed."

The fines were imposed because the city failed to comply with a February 
2005 court order that required the city, over the ensuing nine months, to 
eliminate all sewage discharges into the river, file a quarterly report on 
its plan, and reimburse the state for its costs associated with the project.

Yonkers Corporation Counsel Frank Rubino said the city argued in court that 
the timetables set by the state were impractical, because it's difficult to 
detect illegal hook-ups - the primary source of pollution - to its storm 
sewer system 12 feet under ground.

To find the improper hook-ups, the city hired consultants to send video 
cameras into the storm sewers to film the watery underground world, Rubino 
said. The cameras detect the illegal hook-ups when they happen by a pipe 
just as it is flushed, and waste material flows where street run-off is 
supposed to run.

"It can almost be by luck," Rubino said. "The camera is looking through the 
pipe and unless something is coming down from above, you can't tell."

Spitzer's office signed off on the agreement Dec. 29, said Attorney General 
spokesman Javier Gomez.

According to the consent judgement, Yonkers will set aside $2.2 million for 
a state contractor, who will continue to investigate the underground pipes 
in east Yonkers to find all the illegal hook-ups. The funds will come from a 
$15 million capital project already approved by the City Council. Once those 
hookups are found, the owners will have 120 days to fix them.

http://www.nynews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070114/UPDATE/701140387