CSPA Settles Lawsuit Against Sonoma County for Illegal Discharges

CSPA has settled a Clean Water Act lawsuit against Sonoma County for violations of the California General Industrial Stormwater Permit.  Sonoma County operates a 40-acre recycling facility and transfer station in Sonoma, California.  The facility discharges polluted stormwater into channels that flow into Champlin Creek, which flows into Sonoma Creek and thence San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge and the Napa Sonoma Salt Marsh Restoration Project and ultimately San Pablo Bay.

The settlement agreement obligates Sonoma County to comply fully with the Clean Water Act, develop and implement a suite of Best Management Practices and structural improvements, conduct more frequent and comprehensive monitoring and prepare an adequate Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan.  The agreement incorporates provisions that allow CSPA to return to court for enforcement if pollutant benchmarks continue to be exceeded.

As mitigation for past violations, Sonoma County agreed to send $48,000 to the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment to fund environmental projects to improve water quality.  They also agreed to reimburse CSPA’s costs of bringing suit.  Lozeau/Drury LLP represented CSPA in this matter.

Settlement Agreement   Lawsuit

This entry was posted in Bill Jennings, Enforcement, Water Quality. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.