ALBANY, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman reached a settlement with a New York landowner on Monday after his actions allegedly resulted in the contamination of a portion of New York City's drinking water.
While adding a garage and pool house on his 27-acre property in Carmel, N.Y., property owner Gary Prato allegedly instructed contractor Anthony Adinolfi and his company, Dirtman Enterprises, Inc., to dump fill to fix some grading problems on the property, essentially creating an illegal landfill.
The fill contained construction debris contaminated with carcinogenic-laden materials such as coal ash and slag. Some of the fill seeped into the Croton Falls Resevoir, which provides up to 10 percent of New York City's drinking water.
“Today’s agreement makes it clear that clean, healthy drinking water is a basic right for all New Yorkers,” Schneiderman said. “Nobody is above the law, including illegal polluters who would put a drinking water reservoir for over 1 million New Yorkers at risk.”
As part of the settlement, Prato has agreed to pay $245,000 in penalties to the state in addition to cleaning up the illegal landfill on his property.
A court had previously ruled that Prato and Adinolfi violated several state environmental laws.