North Las Vegas to be placed under a federal consent decree
North Las Vegas will be placed under a federal consent decree and pay $385,000 in fines for failing to maintain records on a pretreatment plan for the city’s sewer system, under a settlement the City Council approved Wednesday.
The deal, reached with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Nevada’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, requires the city to submit status reports every six months about its industrial pretreatment program.
Also, the city’s utilities fund will pay $192,500 apiece to the United States and Nevada’s Department of Environmental Protection.
The settlement comes three years after state and federal inspectors found that North Las Vegas did not develop, fund and implement a pretreatment plan for the city’s wastewater plant and collection system.
That failure violated a state wastewater permit and the federal Clean Water Act, EPA officials said.
City officials said the issue was related to record keeping, not a failure to provide clean water.
The city may ask for the consent decree to be lifted after two years of maintaining “satisfactory compliance,” according to the settlement.
Contact Art Marroquin at amarroquin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Find @AMarroquin_LV on Twitter.