The Westchester Board of Legislators will vote Sept. 10 on an agreement with the state that would set aside $250,000 for cleanup of thousands of plastic discs that escaped from the county’s Mamaroneck sewage treatment plant during heavy rain early last year.
The pending agreement is an update to a 2008 state Department of Environmental Conservation consent order to upgrade the Mamaroneck plant, The Journal News reports today. The agreement carries a penalty of $37,500, but more than half of it would be suspended if the county follows the terms of the revised consent order. The county would receive two six-month extensions to finish construction on the plant and bring it into full operation, with a new deadline of Dec. 31, 2013.
County Executive Rob Astorino told legislators in an Aug. 6 letter that construction at the plant was delayed because of the discharge of the discs and subsequent work done to prevent reccurances. The discs are in two sizes, one roughly the size of a dime and the other, a quarter. They contain bacteria that remove nitrogen during the treatment process.
County Environmental Facilities Commissioner Tom Lauro said county workers recovered about 40 percent of the discs last year. Under the new agreement, Municipalities, private beach groups and others that have picked up the discs could apply for reimbursement of 5 percent of their costs.
