On November 3, 2011, Region 1 filed a Consent Agreement and Final Order (CAFO) (Docket Number CWA-01-2010-0079) resolving Clean Water Act (CWA) violations against the City of Danbury, CT. In its complaint, Region 1 alleged that the City failed to report to the State of Connecticut, Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (CTDEEP) bypasses from its wastewater collection systems on at least 27 separate occasions during the past five years, in violation of its NPDES permit and Section 301(a) of the CWA. Region 1 also alleged that on at least 15 additional occasions, the CityÂs bypasses reached waters of the United States, and as such, were unauthorized discharges in violation of the CityÂs NPDES permit and the CWA. These discharges contain raw sewage that carry microorganisms that may cause symptoms ranging in severity from mild to life-threatening ailments such as cholera, dysentery, infections, hepatitis, and severe gastroenteritis. The failure to report bypasses prevents the State and EPA from having an accurate representation of the frequency of the bypasses, the size of such bypasses and the potential impacts on human health and the environment. Many of the bypasses occurred in Environmental Justice neighborhoods. In addition, the Complaint alleges that the City failed to implement its Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures plan for its Department of Public Works Complex.
The City agreed to pay a $30,000 penalty to resolve the CWA violations. In