In early 2012, PennFuture and the Brodhead Watershed Association (BWA) reached a settlement with the Mount Pocono Municipal Authority to resolve the federal lawsuit filed in late 2010 against the authority for more than 500 permit violations. The federal consent decree -- in layperson's language, the enforceable requirements -- gave the authority to a timeline to reduce its discharge of treated sewage to Forest Hills Run. This stream is designated as High Quality, a special classification that entitles it to enhanced protection. But because of the sewage plant pollutions, the stream was added to the state’s official list of impaired streams in 2002. The water temperature was so warm that it posed risks to trout and other aquatic life, and the temperature also contributed to growth of a particularly nasty substance called sewage fungus.
As part of the settlement, the authority will reduce the volume of its discharge by applying increasing amounts of the discharge to an area of land where vegetation and soils will filter out pollutants. It also agreed to protect a section of open land for a trail and greenspace.
PennFuture and BWA could have pursued millions of dollars in civil penalties for the violations at the sewage treatment plant, but instead worked with the authority and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to develop a remedy that will provide the greatest benefit to water quality, and to the people who enjoy the stream and its surroundings. Learn more about our legal work behind the scenes to bring this about.
Kate Gibbons is northeast Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture, based in Wilkes-Barre.
