PEABODY — The city is facing a $70,000 fine for failing to satisfy conditions of a stormwater discharge permit issued by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
The permit requirements are designed to keep sewage and other pollutants out of storm sewers that drain into local rivers, ponds and coastal waters. Peabody, between 2003 and 2008, did not sufficiently screen for illegal discharges into its system and failed to pass an ordinance prohibiting nonstormwater discharges to its storm sewers, said Kathleen Woodward, senior enforcement counsel for the EPA.
The storm sewers collect rain and snowmelt from streets and drain to local rivers and streams. Often, sewage lines or industrial discharges can be improperly connected to the storm sewer, leading to raw sewage or other pollutants reaching the river or the ocean, the EPA said in a press release.
Woodward said Peabody had a plan to identify possibly contaminated discharges but didn't implement it.
Mayor Michael Bonfanti said the city didn't get its plans, showing the city was in compliance, to the EPA on time. He blamed, in part, the resignation last year of Public Services Director Dick Carnevale.
"Carnevale was in the process of doing it; he left," Bonfanti said.
But the mayor said there were "no excuses" for the oversight. "As mayor, I take responsibility."
An ordinance will be before the council for its approval in the fall, he said. He is hopeful, once the city satisfies all the permit requirements, that the fine will be lowered.
The city also has the chance to mitigate the fine if its future projects incorporate environmentally sensitive construction techniques that exceed EPA requirements, Woodward said.
Peabody was one of eight Massachusetts communities and one New Hampshire town that the EPA filed a complaint against. The the other communities and penalties include Plaistow, N.H. ($40,000), and in Massachusetts: Canton ($50,000), Concord ($50,000), Dennis ($50,000), Eastham ($40,000), Gardner ($60,000) and Winthrop ($70,000).
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