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Contractors to pay fines for sewage discharges from Delaware Valley Veterans Home

Release Date: 03/27/2006
Contact Information: Roy Seneca (215) 814-5567

PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has settled a Clean Water Act complaint against a contractor and subcontractor involved in the 2001-2002 construction of the Delaware Valley Veterans Home, 2701 Southampton Road, Philadelphia, Pa.

In a September 2005 complaint, EPA alleged that Mount Construction, Inc. of Berlin, N.J., a subcontractor of building contractor Thomas P. Carney Inc. of Langhorne, Pa., installed a 10-inch sewer lateral line from the Veterans Home to a storm sewer manhole. After construction was completed in July 2002, and until this improper sewage connection was corrected in September 2003, this sewer line resulted in the discharge of untreated sewage into a tributary of Byberry Creek, which is part of the Delaware River watershed.

The two companies have agreed to pay a total penalty of $22,650 to settle alleged Clean Water Act violations. The Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of pollutants into waterways without a permit, issued by EPA or the state, that sets pollution discharge limits, monitoring and reporting requirements, and other conditions designed to protect water quality. For more information about the Clean Water Act permit program, visit www.epa.gov/npdes

Under separate settlement agreements with EPA, Mount Construction, Inc. will pay a $18,650 penalty and Thomas P. Carney will pay a $4,000 penalty.

As part of the settlement, these companies neither admitted nor denied liability for the violations.