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HAS UNTIL JULY 2026 TO COMPLETE REPAIRS AT ITS EXPENSE OR OWNERS’ EXPENSE IN SETTLEMENT

WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE EXAMINER. By John F. Bailey. October 6, 2025:

The City has under a consent order to settle an environmental violation  has until some date in  2026 to complete repairs to feeder sewer lines to main Mamaroneck Valley sewer line leading to the south shore towns of Rye, Mamaroneck and Larchmont among others that may be affected.

The suit was filed against 11 Westchester Communities in 2018,  including White Plains in the  Mamaroneck Valley System alleging they were in violation of the Clean Water Act.

The city monitored the White Plains portion of the sewer line and isolated the sections of the White Plains sewer system with the greatest  “inflow and infiltration.”

The Common Council in September 2018  authorized the matter be settled by consent order. The city  agreed, according to the backup material to “remove enough inflow and infiltration in the Mamaroneck Valley portion of the it the White Plains sewer system  In the backup material the city stated  “we expected to be in compliance with the Sewer Act by the end of 2020.”

Covid stopped the  compliance efforts and the city failed to complete its remediation work by the end of 2020.

The City and the plaintiffs held discussions and the plaintiffs agreed to give White Plains an extention to remove enough inflow and infiltration to comply with the Sewer Act by the end of 2022.

The extension of 3 years was agreed to provided  the city pay  legal and engineering fees of $10,000; engineering fees of up to $2,000 per year for 2021 and 2022 for reviewing City progress; $9,000 for an environmental benefit payment which will be waived if the city offers an opt-in program acceptable to the plaintiffs, for city property owners to obtain a private lateral repair service by April 21.

The City is required to complete “scheduled repairs” in 2026. It is also required to make “provisions regulating sanitary sewer lines to the Municipal Code. Included in the backup material  is a new code for sanitary sewer repairs for “lateral hookups.”

The Opt-in repair arrangement open to property owners is not included in the backup document. In the case of making required repairs it is unclear whether the city will share the cost with the property owners, for example to speed compliance.

In addition to the previous settlement payments, the city is required to pay plaintiffs’ attorneys and engineers’ fees of $43,059 and pay a maximum of $15,000 each for plaintiffs’ engineering fees to monitor the city’s  progress  toward compliance and a $10,000 environmental benefit payment related to the Long Island Sound watershed.

WPCNR is intrigued and is attempting to find out how many of the 10 other violators of sewage inflow standards are behind in their efforts to comply.