The United States government has announced a settlement with the Westchester Joint Water Works (WJWW) and three municipalities in Westchester County for violating the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The defendants, including the town/village of Harrison, the village of Mamaroneck, and the town of Mamaroneck, will construct a $138 million drinking water filtration plant, take steps to protect source water quality, and pay a total of $1.25 million in civil penalties.
"Everyone living in the United States deserves safe drinking water," said Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "Today’s agreement requires Westchester Joint Water Works to construct a new filtration system to prevent contaminated drinking water and to protect the quality of water for a water system that serves multiple communities, including at least one that has been overburdened by environmental impacts. Westchester residents should expect nothing less."
Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division stated, "Today’s agreement kickstarts a path to ensuring a reliable and healthy source of water for 120,000 residents of Westchester County. The building of a much-needed water filtration plant will address the source of the Safe Drinking Water Act violations and will help secure the area’s long-term needs."
United States Attorney Damian Williams emphasized, "Public water systems have the critical responsibility of ensuring that our communities have safe drinking water. Thanks to today’s settlement, Westchester Joint Water Works will finally construct a long-delayed drinking water filtration facility to protect the Westchester County communities it serves."
EPA Region 2 Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia added, "WJWW will build a drinking water filtration plant that will ensure clean and safe drinking water for 120,000 people in Westchester County, immediately pay a $600,000 civil penalty to the federal government and implement a $900,000 Supplemental Environmental Project to improve source water quality through decreased stormwater discharge into the Rye Lake section of the Kensico Reservoir. We are happy to partner with the State of New York to address this long-standing violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act and protect public health."
The complaint filed alongside the consent decree indicated that WJWW violated SDWA regulations by supplying water exceeding legal limits for certain chemicals resulting from disinfection processes — specifically five regulated haloacetic acids known as HAA5.
Although WJWW took short-term measures to mitigate risks after these violations were identified in 2019, they failed to meet necessary corrective actions mandated by an EPA administrative order requiring construction and operation of a filtration plant.
The consent decree outlines interim deadlines for constructing this plant while mandating ongoing safety measures until its completion. It also includes financial penalties: WJWW must pay $600,000 in civil penalties to federal authorities and invest at least $900,000 on environmental projects aimed at improving source water quality.
Additionally, New York State is joining this lawsuit under state law claims linked with prior court judgments demanding similar compliance actions from WJWW.
The proposed consent decree is subject to public comment before court approval can be sought; details about this process will be published in Federal Register notices allowing public input over at least 30 days.
For more information about this settlement visit: [Westchester Joint Water Works settlement page].
