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Washington, D.C. --- One day after at least 200,000 gallons of partially treated sewage were released from the Asbury Park sewage treatment plant before workers arrived and realized there was a problem, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today announced plans to introduce federal legislation that would require all sewage treatment facilities in the nation have alarm systems placed in their facilities so that accidents can be detected immediately.
The New Jersey congressman also requested in a letter today to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the agency mandate that all sewage treatment facilities have first response systems in place to notify the proper authorities of any malfunctions. In his letter, Pallone said that EPA was granted the authority to regulate point sources that discharge pollutants into U.S. waters through the Clean Water Act.
Early yesterday morning, a 14-inch ductile iron pipe carrying partially treated sewage broke at the Asbury Park sewage treatment plant. According to press reports, the pipe burst at about 3 a.m., but since the facility is not staffed 24 hours a day, the problem was not found until about 9 a.m., two hours after staff arrived at work. When the plant closes at 5 p.m. each evening it is not staffed by employees until the next morning, leaving a 14 hour gap in time when the facility is not being monitored.
"An accident at one of these facilities is bad enough, but it is unacceptable to have it go undetected for five hours simply because there are no alarms or alert systems in place to notify anyone there is a problem," Pallone said. "I plan to introduce legislation that would require that all sewage treatment facilities have alarm systems in place so that any accidents can be addressed as soon as possible. I would also hope that the EPA would agree that this is a serious problem, and would require that these facilities install alarm systems."
Today's request comes one day after Pallone asked the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to conduct more extensive inspections of coastal sewage facilities. Currently, DEP conducts a paper inspection and walk through at coastal treatment facilities three times during the summer season to ensure they are in proper operating condition. The DEP leaves it to the local facilities to test the actual pipes and hardware of the plant. Pallone believes that the DEP should instead conduct its own inspections of the facility's structure to ensure all equipment in the facility is working appropriately and does not show any signs of being compromised.
Yesterday's sewage leak led to the closure of beaches in Asbury Park, Allenhurst, Deal and Loch Arbour.
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