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Mahoning County settles pollution suit
Going to trial could have been very costly, the county sanitary engineer says.
YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County has agreed to pay $150,000 in fines, eliminate the Wilson Avenue sewer overflow in Campbell, upgrade three sewage treatment plants and build a $2 million sewer in East Alliance in a settlement of a lawsuit brought by the Ohio attorney general’s office.
The state sued the county commissioners in July 2007, alleging excessive discharge of pollutants from three county-operated sewage treatment plants into Mill or Meander creeks and the Mahoning River in recent years.
The suit, filed by then-Atty. Gen. Marc Dann, alleged discharges of ammonia, phosphorus, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, silver and bacteria from human waste occurred in violation of the county’s permits from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
The county commissioners approved the settlement agreement during their Thursday meeting at Campbell City Hall.
The suit alleged that the violations occurred at three sewage treatment plants operated by the county sanitary engineer’s office: the Boardman Wastewater Treatment Plant, which discharges into Mill Creek; the Meander Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, which discharges into Meander Creek; and the Campbell Sewage Treatment plant, which discharges into the Mahoning River.
The suit, which had been assigned to Judge Maureen A. Sweeney, also complained of unauthorized discharges from the Wilson Avenue sewer overflow into the Mahoning River.
The settlement benefits Mahoning Valley residents because it results in better sanitation and cleaner waterways, said Joseph V. Warino, county sanitary engineer.
“We put the [sewage treatment plant outflow] water into a creek, which flows downstream, and somebody may be pulling that out for drinking water,” he said.
The settlement also saves Mahoning County the cost of a trial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, he added.
The county will likely pay the Frost, Brown Todd environmental law firm of Cincinnati $20,000 to $30,000 for its work in reaching the settlement, Warino said.
But it would likely have paid $150,000 to $200,000 in legal and expert witness fees had the case gone to trial, plus unknown fines or penalties and potential appeal costs had the county lost the case in a trial, Warino said.
The county has already made most of the sewage treatment plant upgrades required by the settlement and already hired Michael A. Szenborn Jr. as the pre-treatment coordinator required by the settlement, Warino said.
Szenborn takes samples of wastewater discharges at restaurants and industrial plants before they enter the sewers to determine whether large amounts of oils, grease and other unauthorized wastes are being sent to the sewage treatment plants.
Warino said he hopes federal and state funds can help pay for just under three miles of new sewer in East Alliance (Smith Township, Mahoning County) and for residents’ costs of connecting to it. That new sewer will flow to the existing Alliance Sewage Treatment Plant.
The Mahoning County Board of Health on Tuesday declared a public health nuisance due to the failed septic systems in East Alliance.
The cost of eliminating the Wilson Avenue overflow is unknown, Warino said. “That’s probably the most difficult and challenging part,” of the settlement agreement, he said.
If enough rainwater can be kept out of the sanitary sewers there by disconnecting downspouts and storm water catch basins from the sanitary sewers, the overflow could simply be plugged, he said.
If that can’t be done, however, the excess flow associated with heavy rains may have to be diverted to a retention basin and sent to the sewage treatment plant at a slower rate, he explained.