Under the federal Clean Water Act, developers of sites one acre or larger are required to implement stormwater pollution prevention plans to keep soil and contaminants from running off into nearby waterways. The rate at which water carries soil and contaminants off of construction sites is typically 10 to 20 times greater than that from agricultural lands and 1,000 to 2,000 times greater than those of forested lands.

The EPA inspected Atlantic Funding’s Gateway Landing construction site in the towns of Greece and Gates, New York in September 2012 and February 2013. Those inspections, along with information provided by Atlantic Funding, revealed that the company was not properly following key parts of its stormwater pollution prevention plan. Violations found at the Gateway Landing site included failure to install a designated concrete washout area at the construction site and a perimeter silt fence prior to start of work and failure to construct sediment basins at the site and permanently stabilize drainage ditches with vegetation prior to road and building construction. In addition, Atlantic Funding violated provisions of its stormwater discharge permit, including the requirement to conduct site inspections according to the specified schedule and the requirement to properly amend its stormwater pollution prevention plan to minimize discharges of pollutants from the site. For more information about requirements of the Clean Water Act and how EPA protects the nation’s water, visit http://water.epa.gov/. Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and Facebook at http://facebook.com/eparegion2.

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