2 lawsuits target JEA on Clean Water Act

Environmental groups cite discharges of raw sewage, ask the utility to improve sewage collection systems and wastewater treatment facilities

The St. Johns Riverkeeper filed a lawsuit Monday, and the Public Trust Environmental Law Institute of Florida filed its on Wednesday, both in federal court.

Both lawsuits ask JEA to develop a plan to improve sewage collection systems and wastewater treatment facilities.

JEA has 20 days after being served with the lawsuits to respond.

JEA representatives declined to answer questions about the lawsuits. Instead, spokesman Phil Mattox issued a statement that says the utility has spent $800 million in improvements to the wastewater system and plans on spending another $200 million as part of the River Accord, a 10-year effort to improve the health of the St. Johns River's lower basin.

"JEA is committed to continually improving the environmental performance of our facilities and operations," the statement says.

At a news conference Wednesday, the law institute and the Riverkeeper released a list of more than 200 spills from the utility's Buckman and Arlington East wastewater treatment facilities, resulting in 8.3 million gallons of sewage and poorly treated wastewater flowing into area waterways. The information was collected from self-reports of spills by JEA.

Those facilities have a disproportionate number of spills because they are older and need the most infrastructure work, according to Riverkeeper attorney Michael Howle.

Howle said the organization first notified JEA of its intent to sue in December 2005 and again in December 2006 but has had no response about resolving the issues.

Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon said the litigation is a last resort to force JEA into compliance with the law.

"We want JEA as a member of this community to operate facilities in a legal way so they do not continue to pollute waterways in this community," he said.

Both environmental groups also fault the Florida Department of Environmental Protection with not enforcing the Clean Water Act.

A DEP spokeswoman, Jill Johnson, said the agency stands by its enforcement record. The DEP meets with JEA quarterly to review all spills and levies fines and orders corrective action based on what it finds, Johnson said.

Johnson said she was unable to compare the amount and type of violations in Northeast Florida to other regions, but spills happen all over Florida.

The lawsuits come two months after the groups used DEP records to document about 300 clean-water violations across Northeast Florida between January 2005 and August 2006. Armingeon said that further research has pushed that number closer to 400 violations.

beth.kormanik@jacksonville.com (904) 359-4619