Fitchburg city fined by EPA for violations of Clean Water Act

The city of Fitchburg in Massachusetts, US, will pay a civil penalty of $141,000 under the terms of a consent decree lodged in federal court for violations of the Clean Water Act.

The city will also execute a supplemental environmental project worth at least $100,000 besides implementing remedial measures to minimise future discharges of pollutants into the environment.

Fitchburg violated conditions of its permit that allows control of combined sewer overflows, bypassed wastewater flows around its secondary treatment system, violated numeric effluent limits on hundreds of occasions and discharged untreated overflows from the collection system without permit authorisation, prompting the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to force the consent decree.

EPA’s New England regional administrator Curt Spalding said that the settlement will ensure that a major source of pollution to the Nashua River will be controlled.

"It is satisfying that the city will build upon the progress it has already made in restoring the river, once again making it accessible for safe recreation," added Spalding.

The City will also be mandated to establish a collection system operations and maintenance program to overcome systemic neglect of the current collection system besides developing operational changes and system upgrades to enable the City to comply with all of its permit limits.

United States Attorney Carmen Ortiz said, "The federal Clean Water Act was established to ensure that everyone is committed to making our rivers and streams safe and healthy for our children and future generations.

"I am pleased that the city of Fitchburg is dedicating itself to achieving this goal by agreeing to today’s consent decree, ensuring that the Nashua River is not left behind."