GOWANUS — A tipster armed with a video camera helped nab the company that recently pleaded guilty to breaking environmental laws after befouling the Gowanus Canal, authorities said.
Video shot by a "concerned community member" helped catch A&L Cesspool Service violating the Clean Water Act by illegally dumping sewage into the canal and other spots across the city, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
A lawyer who works for a property owner on the canal shot the video after he or she spotted an A&L Cesspool Service truck dumping waste in a manhole at Hamilton Plaza, the shopping center on the canal near 12th Street, an EPA spokesman said.
In the video, brown water can be seen pouring into the canal and then spreading across the water like a dirty cloud.
EPA officials said tips like the video play a key part in nabbing environmental wrongdoers and encouraged the public to come forward in the future.
"The public can play an important role in making sure illegal pollution does not go unchecked," said Special Agent-in-Charge Vernesa Jones-Allen. "We urge anyone who sees a potential environmental crime to report it to the EPA or the state agency so the appropriate action can be taken."
The public can submit tips about suspected illegal polluters on the EPA's website.
Authorities say A&L Cesspool Service pulled similar pollution stunts across the city. The company specializes in unclogging sewer lines and had a permit to dispose of sewage at wastewater treatment facilities.
After sucking up sewage clogs with vacuum trucks, A&L employees were supposed to drive the waste to sewage treatment plants. Instead, they poured the poopy water into manhole covers right next to the sewage lines they had just unclogged, federal prosecutors said.
At Hamilton Plaza, A&L was hired to unclog a broken sewage line that was causing waste to collect on the shopping center property. But A&L Cesspool poured the waste into a manhole that fed directly into the Gowanus Canal instead of taking it to a treatment plant, authorities said. A&L Cesspool paid $900,000 in penalties after pleading guilty to violating the Clean Water Act.
Built in the 1850s, the Gowanus Canal was long a dumping ground for industrial businesses along its shores. It's now one of the most polluted waterways in the United States, according to the EPA.
The EPA's $506 million Superfund cleanup of the canal started recently with work crews plucking debris such as sunken boats out of the waterway. Dredging to remove the toxic sludge on the canal's bottom is expected to start next year, and the entire cleanup should be finished around 2022, according to EPA.
READ MORE ON CLEANUP EFFORTS ON THE GOWANUS CANAL
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