ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — The City of Robertsdale may be facing a lawsuit for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act.

According to paperwork e-mailed to Gulf Coast Newspapers, the law office of David A. Ludder sent a notice to Robertsdale last week announcing that the Conservation Alabama Foundation may sue the city for violating an ADEM decree for putting too many pollutants from the wastewater treatment plant into local waterways.

The CAF began in 2000 as the Alabama Conservation Voters Education Fund, under sponsorship of the Alabama Rivers Alliance, according to the group’s Web site, conservationalabamafoundation.org

According to an e-mail from Ludder, “CAF has merely served a notice which is a precondition to a suit if it decides to file one. No suit can be filed for at least 60 days. In that time, Robertsdale can come into compliance, the State can initiate a lawsuit, or EPA can initiate a lawsuit. If any of these events occur, CAF will not file suit.”

According to Robertsdale Mayor Charles Murphy, the city is already working to bring the wastewater treatment plant into compliance. The city has issued bonds so new “clarifiers” can be built, which Murphy says will eliminate most of the plant’s problems.

“We’re looking to have these additions to the treatment facilities done by September of this year,” said Murphy in a telephone interview. “ADEM understands we will have violations until the work is done.”