Riverdale: Illegal Sewage Discharges from Apartment Buildings

Upon uncovering an epidemic of illegal raw sewage discharges into the Hudson from twenty-one apartment buildings, co-op units, and houses in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, we notified these homeowners of our intent to sue. Following fruitful negotiations, several of the buildings hooked into the City sewer system, and the remainder have obtained permits and are in the process of establishing hookups. As part of our investigation of this case, we requested documents from the NYC DEP under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL).

After nine months of DEP delay, the Pace Clinic filed a lawsuit on our behalf to release of the records. This FOIL case settled this quarter with the department providing access to their records and receiving a strong message that we will aggressively pursue timely responses to our information requests in the future. The records revealed previous knowledge of sewage pollution in the area and a history of lax enforcement. Riverkeeper continues to monitor the progress of the homeowners towards ceasing all illegal discharges.