Environmental groups sue NYC over Willets Point wastewater plant

"Environmental groups are suing New York City over its plan to chlorinate the wastewater entering a creek near Citi Field. The city's environmental agency plans to construct a chlorination facility to reduce the bacteria levels in wastewater in Flushing Creek, where roughly 1 billion gallons of raw sewage is dumped every year due to New York's antiquated sewer system. But some environmental groups argue in a new lawsuit that the city's wastewater proposal is inadequate and could harm animals and plants living in the Queens waterway."

""New York City cannot solve a billion-gallon sewage problem by simply adding chlorine to it," said Mike Dulong, Riverkeeper's legal program director. "This plan does nothing to reduce the actual volume of sewage and trash entering Flushing Creek, and it introduces new chemical risks to an already overburdened waterway.""

"The city has a combined sewer system, CSO, which means everything - stormwater runoff, sink drains, toilets and anything dumped on streets and sidewalks - goes into one place: the city's sewers. Even one-tenth of an inch of rain can overflow the sewer system, causing it to dump all that raw sewage into the city's waterways, making them unsafe for humans and aquatic life, according to Riverkeeper. Aside from the year-round health risks, that's also the reason city beaches close several times a season - the water is too full of sewage to safely swim in."

Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against New York City over a plan to chlorinate wastewater entering Flushing Creek, arguing chlorination will not reduce sewage volume and may harm aquatic plants and animals. New York's combined sewer system sends stormwater, household waste and street runoff into a single system that can overflow with minimal rainfall, dumping roughly 1 billion gallons of raw sewage into Flushing Creek each year. State regulators require bacteria reductions in Flushing Bay by 2035, and the city plans a chlorination facility by 2029 as a rapid bacterial treatment. Critics contend chlorine adds chemical risks and fails to address trash and sewage volume.

Read at Gothamist