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Raw Sewage Dumped Into East River Shows Need for More Oversight, Pol Says

 Waste from the bathrooms at Astoria Park Pool and Charybdis Playground had been pouring into the East River since the facilities were built in the 1930s.
Waste from the bathrooms at Astoria Park Pool and Charybdis Playground had been pouring into the East River since the facilities were built in the 1930s.
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DNAinfo/Jeanmarie Evelly

DITMARS — A local lawmaker is calling on the city to check all of its waterfront properties for sewage leaks, following the discovery this spring that waste from bathrooms at Astoria Park had been dumped into the East River for decades.

State Sen. Michael Gianaris penned a letter Friday to the Department of Environmental Protection saying the agency should launch "an immediate and comprehensive" review of properties next to city waterways to halt any similar sewage snafus.

"This news is incredibly disturbing to those of us who fought tirelessly to clean our rivers, creeks and other waterways," the lawmaker wrote.

Officials said last week that sewage from the bathrooms at Astoria Park Pool and neighboring Charybdis Playground had been pouring into the East River since the facilities were built in the 1930s.

The pipes for both sites were never connected to the city's sewer system, the result of an outdated septic system that was built at a time "when people cared less about the environment," Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski said.

The Parks Department only discovered the issue this past spring, as workers were starting designs for another project, forcing them to shut down the restrooms at both sites.

Crews fixed the pool's sewage system right away, but the bathrooms at Charybdis Playground remain closed and won't be repaired until at least 2019, officials said.

"The Charybdis Playground fiasco should be the last time the lack of environmental sensibility from our past haunts the greener city we must achieve in the future," Gianaris wrote in his letter to the DEP.

The city should immediately start checking other waterfront facilities "to ensure a similar situation is not occurring elsewhere in our city," he said.

A DEP spokesman said the agency regularly checks the harbor for illegal spills, and orders property owners to correct issues if any are found.