Buffalo Sewer Authority Raw Sewage Lawsuit: Settlement and Costs

The Buffalo Sewer Authority raw sewage lawsuit was filed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on September 16, 2025, in Erie County Supreme Court, and it settled three days later. The consent judgment commits the authority to spend roughly $1 billion over 15 years to overhaul Buffalo’s aging combined sewer system, pay a $20,000 civil penalty, fund a $100,000 environmental benefit project in the city’s parks, and complete all capital work by December 31, 2040.

What the DEC Alleged

The 19-page complaint, filed by Attorney General Letitia James on behalf of the DEC, said the Buffalo Sewer Authority was discharging about 2.9 million gallons of untreated sewage and runoff into local waterways every year. It also cited past “unauthorized dry weather bypasses,” incidents where sewage was dumped even without heavy rain, that discharged between 11 and 78 million gallons in prior years.¹

The state alleged at least 11 permit violations between August and December 2024 alone, involving effluent limits, bypass rules, and reporting requirements.² The lawsuit described the discharges as creating “significant public health and environmental concerns” and asked the court to order compliance with an updated schedule, reduce discharges to meet water quality standards, and impose statutory penalties of up to $37,500 per day for the violations.³

The affected waterways are the Niagara River, Buffalo River, Black Rock Canal, Scajaquada Creek, Cazenovia Creek, and Erie Basin, all used for drinking water, fishing, or recreation.⁴ The complaint also raised environmental justice concerns for residents on Buffalo’s West Side living near the Bird Island Wastewater Treatment Facility and the Bird Island Pier, where persistent odors have been a longstanding grievance.¹

Why the System Overflows

Buffalo runs a “combined” sewer system: domestic sewage, industrial wastewater, and stormwater all share the same pipes. The network spans roughly 790 to 850 miles and has 52 permitted combined sewer overflow points that empty into the Niagara River and its tributaries when heavy rain or snowmelt exceeds what the Bird Island facility can handle.⁵ When that happens, a mix of untreated sewage, household chemicals, urban runoff, and industrial waste pours directly into area waters.⁴ By the state’s estimate, those overflows contribute about 1.4 billion gallons of combined sewage to the Niagara River watershed every year.⁶

Regulators have been pressing the authority to fix the problem for more than two decades. A 2014 Long-Term Control Plan laid out a 20-year, $380 million program with a 2034 compliance deadline, but the authority later 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.”³ Cost estimates climbed past $1 billion as the scope grew and construction prices rose.⁷ The primary sewer tanks at Bird Island date to the 1930s and need about $80 million in repairs on their own.¹

What the Settlement Requires

The lawsuit was built to settle quickly. The authority’s board had already approved a settlement framework in July 2025, and the filing formalized that agreement and opened the door to state and federal grant funding the authority could not pursue while out of compliance.⁷ DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton, Attorney General James, and the Buffalo Sewer Authority announced the consent judgment on September 19, 2025, filed under Index No. 816176/2025.⁸ Its core terms:

Revised Long-Term Control Plan. The authority must submit and implement an amended plan combining “gray” infrastructure (storage facilities, pipe upgrades, treatment plant improvements) with “green” infrastructure (rain gardens, permeable pavement, green roofs, restored wetlands).
Roughly $1 billion over 15 years. All capital projects under the revised plan must be completed by December 31, 2040.⁸
$20,000 civil penalty. Well below the statutory maximum the DEC had sought in the complaint.
$100,000 environmental benefit project. Funding for playground equipment and educational materials about waterway pollution in Buffalo’s park system.⁶
Revised discharge permit. The DEC will update the authority’s SPDES permit (SPDES No. NY-0028410) to incorporate the settlement’s requirements.⁹
Quarterly public reporting. The authority must submit progress reports to the DEC four times a year and post them publicly within seven days.⁸

The real weight of the agreement is the capital commitment and the enforceable 2040 deadline, not the fine. The authority also noted that over the past decade it had already cut overflow events by nearly half, reducing discharge volume by more than 400 million gallons a year.⁶

What the Work Will Look Like

The authority plans to meet the consent judgment through its Queen City Clean Waters Initiative, announced in October 2024. The program covers more than 50 sites across Buffalo over 15 years at a total cost of roughly $1 billion.¹⁰¹¹⁷ Other work includes underground stormwater storage, real-time sewer flow controls, and smaller green infrastructure such as tree root wells, rain gardens, and porous pavement.¹²

Who Pays

Most of the cost falls on ratepayers. In April 2025, the Buffalo Sewer Authority board adopted a proposed amended schedule of sewer rents for fiscal year 2025–2026, raising rates based on assessed property value and adding a Consumer Price Index adjustment to usage-based charges. The authority also introduced new low-income and senior discount programs.¹³ A prior increase of about $5 per month on a home assessed at $100,000 had already been approved to fund regulatory compliance, as part of a five-year, $770 million capital program.¹⁴

Outside money will help. New York has invested more than $39 million in Buffalo sewer infrastructure since 2019, including a combined $6.48 million package from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in August 2024 for real-time sewer control projects.⁶ Settling the case is expected to unlock additional grants that were off-limits while the authority was out of compliance.

How to Track Progress

Under the consent judgment, the authority files progress reports with the DEC every three months and posts them to its own website within seven days of filing.⁸ Those reports are the running record of whether Buffalo is on pace for the 2040 deadline, and they are the document to check if you want to see which projects have moved and where the money has gone.

1
WKBW. DEC Sues Buffalo Sewer Authority Over Millions of Gallons of Raw Sewage Discharge
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WIVB. New York State DEC Alleges Millions of Gallons of Raw Sewage Discharged Around City in Lawsuit
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WGRZ. Buffalo Sewer Authority Sued by State for Violating Discharge Permits
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Spectrum News. NYS DEC Sues Buffalo Sewer Authority Over Untreated Sewage Discharges
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Buffalo Sewer Authority. 2020 CSO Best Management Practices Report
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New York State. DEC Commissioner Lefton, Attorney General James, and Buffalo Sewer Authority Announce Historic Commitment
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Buffalo News. Buffalo Sewer Authority Settlement With DEC
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Buffalo Sewer Authority. November 2025 DEC Quarterly Report
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Buffalo Sewer Authority. DEC Commissioner Lefton, Attorney General James, and Buffalo Sewer Authority Announce Historic Commitment to Significantly Improve Niagara River Water Quality
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Buffalo Sewer Authority. Buffalo Sewer Authority Unveils Queen City Clean Waters Initiative
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Buffalo Sewer Authority. Secondary System Upgrades
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Buffalo Sewer Authority. Queen City Clean Waters
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Buffalo Sewer Authority. April 9, 2025 Board Meeting Agenda
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WKBW. Buffalo Sewer Authority Adopts Budget, Rates Set to Increase