by Cindy Goldstein
At the Board of Trustees (BOT) Meeting Village Attorney Robert Spolzino outlined the terms of an agreement reached between the Westchester Joint Water Works (WJWW) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and New York State (NYS).
Spolzino outlined breathtaking potential penalties for the WJWW (a public benefit agency compromised of the Village of Mamaroneck, Town/Village of Harrison and Town of Mamaroneck) if an agreement was not reached. He stated that he did not believe there was any chance the penalties could be reduced further. The WJWW Board voted to approve the settlement on April 30, 2024 and Spolzino was seeking approval from the Village of Mamaroneck BOT.
Spolzino outlines in his memo (See HERE) that the situation arises from a 2004 NYS Department of Health (DOH) judgment against the WJWW which required WJWW to construct a water filtration plant by 2007 or pay daily penalties. To date, more than $70 million in penalties have accrued as the filtration plant was not built. In 2019 the EPA issued an order that WJWW was in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act and also required that a filtration plant be built. Overall, the potential penalties are in the tens of millions of dollars. Negotiations between all parties have been ongoing for more than a year to reach an agreement (a consent decree).
There are several components to the proposed consent decree (See HERE). First, WJWW must cure the violations and satisfy all open penalty obligations by building the filtration plant. Second, the WJWW must pay various civil penalties as well as paying for three environmental benefit projects.
The three WJWW member municipalities share proportionately in the water consumption costs and satisfaction of the decree are divided among them pro rata based on water consumption. Mamaroneck Village’s share is approximately 27.7% of the total costs.
Filtration Plant Costs: The current estimate is $130 million but a NYS grant of $30 million will reduce the total cost to $100 million. The VOM share would be approximately $27.7 million. Westchester County recently approved a land swap where the filtration plant will be built subject to local land use approvals in Harrison.
US Civil Penalty: A total federal penalty of $600,000 is due for which the VOM is responsible for $166,200 by the third quarter of 2024.
NYS Civil Penalty: A total NYS penalty of $650,000 for which the VOM share is $180,050. This amount is due by the fourth quarter of 2024.
Environmental Benefit Projects: The first to improve the quality of storm water entering the Kensico Reservoir. There is a choice – either paying the currently estimated cost of $900,000 or paying the federal government $1.2 million for them to perform the work. Different payment options depend on which alternative is chosen. Paying the federal government the $1.2 million would remove any risk of cost overruns if the work is contracted directly.
Projects 2 & 3: Installation of a new water main serving a neighborhood of the Town of North Castle at an estimated cost of $1.1 million and a lead service line replacement program capped at a cost of $5.7 million. The VOM share of these two projects is approximately $1,883,600. Payment would be made over six years as the projects are implemented.
It was acknowledged that the lead service line replacement funds would not cover the costs to replace all of the current lead service lines. See HERE to determine if your lines potentially contain lead.
Note: EPA has recently developed a rule (currently out for public comment) that if passed, would require WJWW to replace lead service lines in the future.
WJWW is responsible for paying these penalties and building the filtration plant. These amounts will be factored into our water rates. As all three municipalities must first agree to the settlement, no information is available at this time as to when that will take effect. The filtration plant expenses will surely be borrowed, and the debt most likely spread over thirty years.
The BOT voted unanimously to accept the settlement (See Resolution HERE).
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