EPA Orders Town of Great Barrington to Follow Clean Water Act

Release date: 01/08/04

Contact Information: Contact: Peyton Fleming, EPA Press Office, 617-918-1008

For Immediate Release:January 8, 2004; Release # 04-01-01

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has issued a compliance order to the Town of Great Barrington for alleged Clean Water Act violations at its wastewater treatment plant, which discharges into the Housatonic River.

The compliance order stems from the town's failure to fully implement its federally approved industrial pretreatment program.

"Industrial discharges can have a major impact on wastewater treatment facilities and, ultimately, overall water quality," said Robert W. Varney, regional administrator of EPA's New England Office. "The town's failure to meet federal pretreatment standards could potentially have put the Housatonic River at risk."

The violations include the following:

• failure to issue discharge permits to all industrial users;
  
• failure to submit an enforcement response plan to EPA;
  
• failure to revise the town's Sewer Use Ordinance and submit it to EPA;