SAN FRANCISCO — California River Watch is suing the Town of Hillsborough, citing alleged violations of the Clear Water Act or CWA.
California River Watch filed a complaint on Dec. 2, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Town of Hillsborough alleging that the town failed to exercise reasonable care and caution for the protection of the environment.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that California River Watch discovered that the defendant has been discharging untreated sewage water from its sewage collection system into the waters of the United States, caused by its old sewer collection system that was built prior to 1940, including pipeline cracks and other structural defects. More so, there were several reported incidents of sanitary sewer overflows due to incapacity of its pipelines to accommodate greater volumes of sewer flow. The plaintiff holds the Town of Hillsborough responsible because the defendant allegedly failed to accurately report all incidents of sanitary sewer overflows, and failed to repair or replace defective sewer pipelines and other structures on its sewage collection system.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment in its favor, declaration of defendant's violations, injunction ordering defendant to comply with CWA, perform remedial measures, defendant to pay civil penalties of $37,500 per violation, attorneys’ and expert fees, costs of suit, and further relief as the court deems just. They are represented by Jack Silver of Law Office of Jack Silver in Sebastopol and David J. Weinsoff of Law Office of David J. Weinsoff in Fairfax.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Case number 16-cv-06932