U.S. Water News Online
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The city of Starkville has asked a judge for more time to answer a lawsuit filed by about 800 residents over alleged failure to maintain a wastewater lagoon.
The lawsuit, filed last month in Oktibbeha County Circuit Court, also alleges the city knowingly falsified environmentally sensitive documents from land and water contamination.
City Attorney Bill Stark asked the court for an additional 45 days to answer the suit because of its complexity.
Columbus Attorney Wil Colom filed the lawsuit on behalf of the residents.
The lawsuit, which represents only one side of the legal argument, accuses the city of falsifying data on the secret dumping of sewage into streams and failure to maintain pumps, meters and equipment at the wastewater treatment facility.
The lawsuit alleges the waste lagoon holding pond, which has no connected piping to the treatment facility, has been negligently maintained for several years.
The suit claims facilities dumped raw sewage into the lagoon and a nearby creek without properly treating the waste or monitoring the amounts of waste materials brought into the lagoon, leading to a biological overload.
The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages and a cleanup of the facility.
Members of the Starkville Board of Aldermen have had no public comment.
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