Bristol to pay $75,000 Clean Water settlement

BRISTOL – The Town of Bristol has agreed to pay a $75,000 civil penalty to settle Clean Water charges related to its sewage overflow problem, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The town also has agreed to take steps to address the issue, and spend another $62,800 to clean up storm-water runoff from the Town Beach parking lot.

The EPA characterized the settlement as a resolution to a longstanding problem. Bristol Town Administrator Diane C. Mederos characterized the consent order somewhat differently, however.

In a statement this morning, Mederos said the penalty was “imposed retroactively by the EPA in 2007 despite the town’s compliance with all R.I. Department of Environmental Management directives during previous years.”

Major repairs since the mid-1980s already have addressed many of the causes of town’s overflow problem, she said. And since 1999, the town has been working with the DEM – under a separate consent agreement – to remove extraneous sources of infiltration and inflow from its collection system. “Our expenditures of more than $30 million since 1983 have steadily improved our sewer system,” Mederos said.

Money for the civil fine and the mandated supplemental environmental project at the Town Beach “will come from a special fund that the town instituted in 2004 for the Wastewater Division, and will not be paid for by taxes or sewer user fees,” she added. A bond issue approved by town voters in 2006 included $4.5 million for wastewater infrastructure improvements.

That supplemental project will involve the installation of a closed drainage system for runoff from the beach parking lot to remove “suspended solids” – oils and floating debris – that otherwise might be washed into the harbor, she said.

“Today, our system generally can handle all but peak rain events that dump 2 inches of rain within a few hours during high groundwater seasons,” Mederos said. “Nevertheless, our sewer system is more than 100 years old so it requires ongoing aggressive maintenance and additional steps to find and resolve the remaining and more difficult-to-locate problems.”

The agreement follows an EPA Administrative Compliance Order and Penalty Action that sought penalties for violations of the federal Clean Water Act – including a 2005 incident in which aging pumps failed, causing 4 million gallons of untreated sewage to overflow into Bristol Harbor, and resulting in a 17-day closure of local shellfish beds, the federal agency said.

“This action brings us one step closer toward achieving our long-term goal of completely eliminating sanitary sewer overflows that contribute to water quality problems in Rhode Island’s treasured waterways,” Robert W. Varney, the EPA’s New England regional administrator, said in a statement yesterday afternoon. “We can no longer wait to invest in the pipes under our streets until we read about beach or shellfish-bed closures in our communities.”

Sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) – incidents involving the overflow, spill or release of untreated or partially treated sewage before it reaches a sewage treatment plant – “regularly contaminate our nation’s waters, degrade water quality and expose humans to viruses and other pathogens that can cause serious illness,” the EPA said.

Over the past year, EPA New England and the R.I. DEM have launched a statewide effort to eliminate SSOs. The project includes enforcement, training, technical assistance and incentives, such as the honors recently awarded to Warren and South Kingstown. (READ MORE)

Educating local officials – through on-site visits, compliance-assistance workshops and other training to improve operations, maintenance and long-term financial planning – is “a critical component” of that ongoing effort, the EPA said. The federal agency is currently developing a preventive maintenance plan to serve as a template for local operations, helping wastewater system operators to prevent or identify problems before they result in SSOs.

On March 26, the DEM will sponsor a joint workshop in Warwick for municipal leaders. The session – featuring presentations by the EPA on federal initiatives and the DEM on infrastructure financing options – will focus on “the critical value of wastewater infrastructure maintenance,” the EPA said. It also will spotlight regulatory initiatives and government assistance programs.

For information about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s District 1 (New England) office in Boston, and its efforts to eliminate sewage overflows in Rhode Island, visit epa.gov/ne/sso/ri and epa.gov/waterinfrastructure.

Additional information about wastewater treatment licensing and regulation is available from the R.I. Department of Environmental Management Bureau of Environmental Protection, Office of Water Resources, at www.dem.ri.gov.