St. Martinville settles EPA sewage lawsuit

• By RICHARD BURGESS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Oct 29, 2009 - Page: 1BA

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ST. MARTINVILLE — The city has agreed to build a new sewage treatment system that utilizes wetlands to clean wastewater and pay a $50,000 penalty to end a 9-year-old federal Clean Water Act lawsuit, according to court documents.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sued St. Martinville in 2000, alleging the city’s sewage treatment system was inadequate and allowed too much pollution to flow into area waterways.

Federal fines for Clean Water Act violations can climb to more than $20,000 per day, but the federal officials have agreed to settle the case in return for $50,000 and a pledge from city officials to complete the new wastewater system by the end of 2010, according to court documents filed this month.

The agreement has yet to be approved by a judge, but approval is expected because both the city and the U.S. Justice Department have already signed off on the agreement.

St. Martinville Mayor Thomas Nelson did not return calls for comment Wednesday.

The city has been wrangling with treatment issues at its sewage plant since the 1990s and has spent millions of dollars over the past 15 years on new equipment and consultants.

The plan now is to utilize wetlands along the Cypress Island Coulee near the city to serve as a natural treatment system to filter wastewater after it leaves the city’s conventional treatment plant.

Work has already begun in acquiring land and designing the project. If the wetlands project is completed, St. Martinville will join a growing list of communities with so-called “wetlands assimilation” treatment systems.

The basic concept is that partially treated sewage flows into a wetlands area, which then filters the water by feeding off the nutrients while sediment settles out and builds up the wetland area.

Similar systems are in place or proposed in about a dozen other cities and parishes in Louisiana, including Breaux Bridge, Broussard, Mandeville and Thibodaux, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality.

A study commissioned by St. Martinville has determined that the wetlands assimilation proposal in the Cypress Island area would address the pollution issues as well as improve the health of the wetlands.

No date has been set for when the agreement will come before a judge for approval.

The agreement calls on St. Martinville to pay $30,000 within 30 days after the agreement is approved and another $20,000 by July.