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KINGSTON TWP. — An unpermitted and uncontrolled sewer overflow bypass pipe secretly installed at the Dallas Area Municipal Authority dumped millions of gallons of untreated sewage that polluted Toby Creek for years, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.
It was only after a 2018 inspection by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection when the overflow bypass pipe and a concrete culvert, installed in 2010, were removed.
The state Office of Attorney General, Bureau of Criminal Investigations and Environmental Crimes Section filed charges against the Dallas Area Municipal Authority (DAMA) alleging unlawful contact, unlawful discharge, violations of the Clean Water Act and prohibition against pollution. The charges were filed with District Judge Brian Tupper in Kingston Township.
The DEP inspection of DAMA determined that a 12 inch diameter PVC bypass pipe diverted untreated sewage wastewater from a manhole to a concrete box culvert and eventually to an unnamed tributary that led to Toby Creek, the criminal charges say.
The bypass pipe was intentionally installed to be hidden and was only seen when entering the concrete culvert.
According to the criminal complaint, a construction worker who was employed by a contractor who did work at DAMA from September 2009 to May 2010, claimed he was directed by a DAMA supervisor to cut a hole within an existing manhole that was used to install the bypass pipe, which was covered with concrete. The hole in the existing manhole and the installation of the bypass pipe was not in the project’s design nor was a change order processed for its installation, according to charges filed.
A DEP inspector in January 2015 noticed Toby Creek running high and dirty, and followed the creek upstream to find the source causing the disruption. When the DEP inspector followed the unnamed tributary, he observed a 24 inch concrete pipe used to empty the concrete box culvert filled with black liquid.
The black liquid, or untreated waste water, came from an equalization tank diverted through the 12 inch PVC bypass pipe to the concrete box culvert, the complaint says.
Several employees at DAMA were interviewed and claimed to be aware of the bypass pipe but did not know who ordered the bypass pipe to be installed.
The criminal complaint says DAMA in 2008 constructed an equalization tank to handle larger flows during storm events but failed to obtain required permits from DEP.
According to the complaint, DAMA was formed by the municipalities of Dallas Borough, Dallas Township and Kingston Township to construct, operate and maintain a waste water collection system. DAMA transitioned from a treatment plant to a pumping station that collects sewage from Harveys Lake, Lehman Township, Dallas Township, Dallas Borough, Kingston Township and Jackson Township, and pumps the sewage to the Wyoming Valley Municipal Authority’s treatment plant in Hanover Township.