Vermont Environmental Court Judge Thomas Durkin has given the state 90 days to strengthen regulation of rainwater and snowmelt running into five Chittenden County brooks, the Associated Press reported.

Durkin ruled that the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) does not have discretion when an unregulated source of storm water is adding to pollution in a stream.

Durkin ruled that if sources of storm water are found to be adding to pollution of a waterway, ANR must take action.

"If and when the determination is made that storm water discharges 'contribute' to violations of water quality standards, then ANR must exercise its (authority); it has no discretion in this regard, as the Supreme Court found," Durkin wrote.

Now the agency must sort out the definition of "unregulated" and review which properties near the five brooks—Bartlett, Centennial, Englesby, Morehouse and Potash—have permits and which do not, the AP reported.

"We will begin to clarify those points next week," said Peter LaFlamme, director of the Water Quality Division in the agency's Department of Environmental Conservation.

The Conservation Law Foundation has been pressuring the state to step up enforcement of federal water protection laws. The issue is water flowing into the brooks in Burlington, South Burlington Winooski and Colchester. The brooks then flow into Lake Champlain, according to the AP.

The agency "could have been working on cleaning up these brooks instead of pursuing delaying tactics for years," said Chris Kilian, CLF's Vermont director. "I don't know how many times we need to win these cases before ANR actually takes action to clean up these waterways," he said.

John Sayles, deputy secretary of the agency, replied that the litigation had not helped matters. "CLF's lawsuit has not cleaned up any waters."

Source: Associated Press