SARANAC LAKE — The Adirondack Council filed notice of lawsuit today against Saranac Lake, claiming the village sand/salt pile is polluting Lake Colby.

“I know that the Adirondack Council and Lake Colby Association have been bringing the pollution to the village’s attention for the last couple of years,” said spokesman John Sheehan in an interview.

“We have also been raising concern with the Department of Environmental Conservation. But that hasn’t seemed to work. The lake’s water quality continues to get worse every year. And we don’t want to see another winter pass with salt being placed in this location. We’re not sure how much ecological damage has been done there already.”

Litigation would compel the Environmental Protection Agency to issue an order to clean up the salt pile under the Clean Water Act.

Violation could incur fines as great as $37,500 per day. Data proving chloride pollution going back six years could mean $82 million in fines for a single violation.

“The village has two months to take some definitive action without fear of repercussions,” Sheehan said.

Village Manager Marty Murphy had not seen the lawsuit as of this morning.

He said the village does not have any salt at the highway garage site on Van Buren Street right now.

The alleged point-source pollution originates in a brook that runs across village property down Colby Brook and into Lake Colby, according to Lee Keet, member of the Lake Colby Association, who has been conducting water testing on the watershed in accordance with state monitoring programs since 1999.

“The salinity, clarity and electrolytes are getting worse every year,” he said today.

“The highest reading we’ve gotten in the brook is 719 parts per million chlorides. The pollution standard set by the Clean Water Act is 250 parts per million. And we are always over 250 now in the brook.”

By comparison, the average Adirondack stream has between one and 10 parts per million chlorides, Keet said.

“Lake Colby itself has 12 parts per million now, and 15 is where you absolutely have ideal conditions for zebra mussels.”

The chloride count is a threat to the entire watershed running into the Saranac River.

“The brook runs right through the village property, running eastward down Colby Brook into Lake Colby,” Keet said. “It then turns west and goes into Little Colby (lake) into a river that runs into Lower Saranac Lake, which runs into the Saranac River.”