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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
5/7/03

Contact: Amy Cradic
609-984-1795

DEP Issues $600,000 Penalty to Essex County Developer for Unauthorized Sewer Main Connection

(03/69) TRENTON – The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) today announced that Town & Country Developers, Inc. was fined $604,110 for illegally constructing and connecting a sewer extension in Nutley Township, Essex County.

"Town & Country neglected a critical environmental review of its wastewater treatment plans required to protect New Jersey's waterways and ensure that local sewage infrastructures are not overburdened by new development," said DEP Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell. "Illegal sewer hookups undermine the effectiveness of regional water quality management plans and the state' s ability to safeguard clean and adequate water supplies."

Town & Country Developers failed to obtain a Treatment Works Approval (TWA) for its Cambridge Heights at Nutley Development prior to constructing and connecting a sewer main to the Nutley Township sewage collection system. The total wastewater flow for the development, which consists of 33 one family homes and 135 townhomes, is 138,000 gallons per day of sewage.

Failure to apply for a TWA, as required by the Water Pollution Control Act, prevents the department from determining whether or not a local sewage collection system infrastructure and the downstream sewage treatment plant have the hydraulic and treatment capacity to accept additional proposed sewage flows.

Town & Country applied for and obtained the necessary TWA permit nearly a year after the sewer main to Nutley Township collection system had already been constructed and connected. The Cambridge Heights at Nutley Development is located in Nutley Township between Washington Avenue and Kinglands Road.

The DEP's TWA program regulates the construction and operation of domestic wastewater collection, conveyance and treatment facilities, including treatment plants, pumping stations, interceptors, sewer mains and other collection, holding and conveyance systems. The program is aimed at protecting the waters of the state by preventing the entry of increased pollutants from inadequate facilities.

NOTE: A copy of the DEP's Administrative Order and Notice of Civil Administrative Penalty Assessment that was issued to Town and Country is available upon request.

 

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