Buffalo Sewer Authority Raw Sewage Lawsuit: DEC Terms, Rate Impact

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s raw sewage lawsuit against the Buffalo Sewer Authority, filed September 16, 2025, in Erie County Supreme Court, settled three days later with a consent judgment requiring the authority to spend roughly $1 billion over 15 years to stop illegal discharges into the Niagara River and other Western New York waterways. All capital work must be finished by December 31, 2040.¹

What the State Alleged

The Attorney General filed the 19-page complaint on behalf of the DEC, alleging that the authority was discharging approximately 2.9 million gallons of untreated sewage and runoff into local waterways each year, on top of past “unauthorized dry weather bypasses” that released between 11 and 78 million gallons in prior years.² The state also cited at least 11 permit violations between August and December 2024 alone, involving effluent limits, bypass rules, and reporting requirements.³

Buffalo runs a combined sewer system, meaning sewage, industrial wastewater, and stormwater share the same pipes. When storms overwhelm the Bird Island Wastewater Treatment Facility, the mix pours out of 52 permitted overflow points into the Niagara River, Buffalo River, Black Rock Canal, Scajaquada Creek, Cazenovia Creek, and Erie Basin.⁴⁵ The state estimates those overflows contribute around 1.4 billion gallons of combined sewage to the Niagara River watershed every year.⁶ The complaint described “significant public health and environmental concerns,” and pointed to environmental justice impacts on West Side residents living near the Bird Island facility, who have long complained about odors that keep families off the nearby pier.²

The state asked the court to compel compliance with an updated schedule, force reductions in discharges to meet water quality standards, and impose statutory penalties of up to $37,500 per day for violations.⁷

Why the Suit Existed at All

Federal and state regulators had been pushing the authority to fix its overflow problem for more than two decades. The DEC first ordered a long-term control plan in 1999, with a July 2001 deadline. The authority submitted one in 2004, which the EPA called inadequate. The EPA issued a formal compliance order in March 2012, and in March 2014 the agencies approved a revised plan built around a 20-year, $380 million program and a 2034 compliance deadline.⁸⁹

That plan fell behind quickly. The authority itself has acknowledged that “some projects in the 2014 LTCP could not be constructed as envisioned and that the water quality goals would not be met through its completion.”⁷ Cost estimates ballooned from $380 million past $1 billion as construction prices rose and the scope of needed work grew.¹⁰ The primary treatment tanks at Bird Island date to the 1930s and need an estimated $80 million in repairs on their own.²

The September 2025 lawsuit was structured to be settled quickly. The authority’s board had already approved a settlement framework in July 2025, and the filing was the legal vehicle to formalize the deal and open access to state and federal grant funding that had been off-limits while the authority was out of compliance.¹⁰

What the Settlement Requires

On September 19, 2025, DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton, Attorney General Letitia James, and the Buffalo Sewer Authority announced the consent judgment, filed under Index No. 816176/2025.¹ Its core terms:

Submit and implement an amended Long-Term Control Plan combining traditional “gray” infrastructure (storage facilities, pipe upgrades, treatment plant improvements) with “green” infrastructure such as rain gardens, permeable pavement, green roofs, and restored wetlands.
Complete all capital projects under the revised plan by December 31, 2040, at a projected cost of roughly $1 billion over 15 years.¹
Pay a $20,000 civil penalty.
Fund a $100,000 environmental benefit project for Buffalo’s park system, covering playground equipment and educational materials about waterway pollution.⁶
Operate under a revised SPDES discharge permit that the DEC will update to incorporate the settlement’s requirements.¹¹
File quarterly progress reports with the DEC and post them publicly within seven days.¹

The $20,000 penalty is far below the statutory maximum the DEC could have pursued. The weight of the agreement is the enforceable 2040 deadline and the $1 billion capital commitment behind it. The authority noted that over the past decade it had already reduced overflow events by nearly half, cutting discharge volume by more than 400 million gallons per year.⁶

The plan to meet the new deadline runs through the Queen City Clean Waters Initiative, which the authority unveiled in October 2024, before the lawsuit was filed. It calls for work at more than 50 sites, with the largest single component an overhaul of the Bird Island Wastewater Treatment Facility estimated at $250 million to $350 million. That includes secondary system rehabilitation already underway as a $55.85 million project and primary system upgrades to replace 1930s-era infrastructure.¹²¹⁰ Other work includes underground stormwater storage, real-time sewer flow controls, tree root wells, rain gardens, and porous pavement.¹³

What It Means for Ratepayers

Most of the money will come from Buffalo sewer customers. In April 2025, the authority’s board adopted a proposed amended schedule of sewer rents for the 2025–2026 fiscal year, raising rates based on assessed property value and adding a Consumer Price Index adjustment to usage-based charges. The board also introduced new low-income and senior discount programs alongside the increases.¹⁴ An earlier increase of about $5 per month for a home assessed at $100,000 had already been approved to fund regulatory compliance as part of what the authority described as a five-year, $770 million capital program.¹⁵

Outside money helps, but only partially. New York has invested more than $39 million in Buffalo sewer infrastructure since 2019, including a $6.48 million package from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in August 2024 for real-time sewer control projects.⁶ Coming into compliance under the consent judgment is expected to unlock additional grants the authority could not pursue while the enforcement action was open.

If you swim, fish, or draw drinking water from the Niagara River or its Buffalo-area tributaries, the near-term picture doesn’t change much. The overflows continue while construction proceeds. What the consent judgment establishes is a court-enforceable clock, running to December 31, 2040, with quarterly progress filings the public can read.

1
Buffalo Sewer Authority. November 2025 DEC Quarterly Report
2
WKBW. DEC Sues Buffalo Sewer Authority Over Millions of Gallons of Raw Sewage Discharge
3
WIVB. New York State DEC Alleges Millions of Gallons of Raw Sewage Discharged Around City in Lawsuit
4
Buffalo Sewer Authority. 2020 CSO Best Management Practices Report
5
Spectrum News. NYS DEC Sues Buffalo Sewer Authority Over Untreated Sewage Discharges
6
New York State. DEC Commissioner Lefton, Attorney General James, and Buffalo Sewer Authority Announce Historic Commitment
7
WGRZ. Buffalo Sewer Authority Sued by State for Violating Discharge Permits
8
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA Issues Order to Buffalo Sewer Authority
9
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA and DEC Approve Buffalo Sewer Authority Long Term Control Plan
10
Buffalo News. Buffalo Sewer Authority Settlement With DEC
11
Buffalo Sewer Authority. DEC Commissioner Lefton, Attorney General James, and Buffalo Sewer Authority Announce Historic Commitment to Significantly Improve Niagara River Water Quality
12
Buffalo Sewer Authority. Secondary System Upgrades
13
Buffalo Sewer Authority. Queen City Clean Waters
14
Buffalo Sewer Authority. April 9, 2025 Board Meeting Agenda
15
WKBW. Buffalo Sewer Authority Adopts Budget, Rates Set to Increase