{"id":117987,"date":"2017-09-15T04:24:23","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T08:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=117987"},"modified":"2017-09-15T04:24:23","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T08:24:23","slug":"water-board-fined-50k-for-black-discharge-at-niagara-falls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/09\/15\/water-board-fined-50k-for-black-discharge-at-niagara-falls\/","title":{"rendered":"Water board fined $50K for black discharge at Niagara Falls"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Local<\/a>
FILE: Local water officials blamed outdated equipment and miscommunication between employees for the incident. (Photo <\/a>by Saffron Blaze – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ALBANY, N.Y.\u2014 New York state will fine the Niagara Falls Water Board $50,000 for discharging black and smelly water near the falls during a busy tourist weekend, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.<\/p>\n

The agency will be required to make changes at its aging wastewater plant and obtain state approval before any future discharges.<\/p>\n

The July 29 discharge caused discolored water to empty into the Niagara River near the American side of the falls on a summer weekend critical to the local tourism industry. The foul-smelling discharge enveloped the dock for the popular Maid of the Mist tour boats.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to make sure it never ever happens again,\u201d the Democratic governor said during a visit Thursday to Niagara Falls. He said the state determined the discharge was the result of \u201cbasic breaches of protocol\u201d at the plant.<\/p>\n

The Water Board issued a statement Thursday saying that while it had not yet seen the details of the administration’s requirements, it would work with state officials to prevent problems going forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have always been and remain committed to doing everything possible with the\u00a0technology\u00a0in place to safeguard the natural beauty of the Niagara River and to comply with and exceed wherever possible all environmental rules, standards and permits,\u201d the board said.<\/p>\n

Local water officials blamed outdated equipment and miscommunication between employees for the incident. The board also has been cited for an unrelated discharge in August.<\/p>\n

Cuomo dismissed claims the discharge was caused by technological issues, likening the plant to an old car that is involved in a crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not the age of the car you drove it into a tree,\u201d he said. \u201cThat’s the problem. You drove the car into a tree. Let’s discuss that first.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ALBANY, N.Y.\u2014 New York state will fine the Niagara Falls Water Board $50,000 for discharging black and smelly water near …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":112002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[24007,13197,24006],"class_list":["post-117987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","tag-50k","tag-niagara-falls","tag-water-board","mauthors-david-klepper","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}