S.W.I.M. recently posted an update on our blog about an illegal discharge of sewage into Coney Island Creek. Several articles have been published on this issue, below are links to the articles and details from our original blog post.
DEP has advised community board 13 and local stakeholders that the discharges have been stopped as of the end of September but many questions still remain unanswered. Community Board 13 is planning to host a Town Hall meeting on the matter in early November. Stay tuned for updates and details for the Town Hall Meeting.
Article Links:
S.W.I.M.’s Original Blog Post:
“On September 7, 2016, NYCDEP [NYC Department of Environmental Protection] notified the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation that the agency had discovered that 15 buildings in the Beach Haven Apartments, with a total of 990 apartments, were illegally discharging raw sewage from the buildings into the City’s stormwater sewer pipes which discharge directly into Coney Island Creek via outfall CI-641. This discovery was made during NYCDEP’s ongoing investigation of illicit sewage discharges into Coney Island Creek at the request of DEC.
The NYCDEP estimates the total volume of sewage discharged to the Creek from these buildings to be approximately 200,000 gallons per day. DEC staff inspected the site on September 8 and September 12, 2016, and determined that: The 15 buildings had failed sanitary lines either caused by blockages or broken lines. To prevent sewage from backing up in the buildings, the house trap caps for the storm lines were removed to allow sewage to flow from the sanitary lines to the storm lines. DEC Staff is continuing to investigate this case to determine the owner of each building. Repairs have started to correct the connections.”