MOUNT VERNON – The federal government has filed a civil lawsuit against the City of Mount Vernon for violating the Clean Water Act.
The lawsuit alleges the city has long failed to comply with Clean Water Act storm sewer permit requirements designed to prevent raw sewage and other illicit pollutants from flowing from the city’s storm sewer system to the Hutchinson and Bronx rivers. The suit alleges that since at least January 2012, Mount Vernon has failed to comply with permit obligations, and, as a result, has allowed raw sewage to flow into its storm sewer system, and then to be discharged into the rivers.
Mount Vernon has also failed to comply with two EPA administrative orders issued to compel the city’s compliance with those requirements.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction compelling the city to comply with applicable Clean Water Act requirements and an order imposing civil penalties for the city’s violations to date.
The State of New York and the commissioner of the State Department of Environmental Conservation are co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
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