Water Woes: EPA charges Johnston for sewer discharges

In a September order of compliance letter addressed the Department of Public Works and the town, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated that they have reason to believe that overflows from Johnston’s sewer system are being discharged into waters protected by the federal Clean Water Act.   

Sent by Chief Denny Dart of the water technical unit in the EPA’s Office of Environmental Stewardship, the letter stated that the department had “reason to believe that not all such overflows are being reported by the Town to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management [DEM].”

In May the EPA issued an information request that required the town to submit information regarding past overflows and to report future incidents to DEM and the EPA. The town responded to the request in July. According to the EPA, the town had not reported certain overflows that DEM had identified in its reports and requested an explanation.

According to a 14-page “findings of violation and order for compliance on consent” document sent to the town by the EPA and provided by the office of Johnston’s Solicitor William Conley, the town discharged untreated sewage from the collection system to the Woonsocket River, Assapumsett Brook, the Pocasset River and their associated wetlands and tributaries without authorization.

“The issue is we didn’t do this intentionally. When you have a sewer backup, and obviously it comes down to the service on the street, it doesn’t get drained up into the heavens, it goes into the storm drains,” said Mayor Joseph Polisena. “The problem is the infrastructure is old, you’re going to have sewer backups. Obviously, we’re going to do what we can to prevent them with our maintenance program that we have.”

In their order, the EPA instructed the town to provide the department with verbal notifications within 24 hours of becoming aware of a discharge, along with written notifications within five days.

“I don’t have any major concerns over it. We sat down with the EPA. They were very reasonable and realized it’s not intentional,” said the mayor.

The order requires the town to develop an emergency response plan by January 13, 2017 and to submit the proposal to the EPA and DEM for review and comment. This would include an emergency telephone number, available 24 hours a day, for the public, along with procedures to publicize reported discharges on websites, newspapers and by other methods.

The town was also required to develop a pump station assessment and repair plan, performed by a qualified engineer, to evaluate all of the town’s stations and to identify needed repairs and upgrades, to be completed by March 13, 2017.

“The resolution is, obviously, we have to maintain our sewer lines which we have been doing, and if a sewer line breaks there’s nothing we can do about it but fix it,” said Polisena, who added that North Providence also finds themselves in a similar situation with the EPA. “We have to repair them as quickly as possible, mitigate them, and go forward and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.

Additionally, the EPA required the town to complete a capacity, management, operation and management (CMOM) program assessment by March 2017 and a CMOM corrective action plan by September 2017. Johnston must also submit a program implementation report beginning in March 31, 2018, continuing annually at the end of each March.

The mayor stated that the DPW would conduct the necessary work, with funding coming from the town’s sewer maintenance program.

“The problem is, with an infrastructure that’s old and aging, and people putting stuff down their toilets or elsewhere, causes issues. We’ve found teddy bears, mop heads and other items in our drains,” said Polisena. “We’re working on a program with the EPA, and they have a job to do and I understand. They’re the experts, we’ll go by what they say.”