Environmental protection group Save the Sound is appealing a consent order between the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District that allows increased nitrogen disposal in the Long Island Sound, according to a press release from the organization.

The consent order, signed in May by the DEC and water treatment plant operators, allows the district’s water treatment plant to dump 653 pounds of nitrogen per day off the coast of Fairfield, Nassau and Westchester counties. The previous limit was 238 pounds per day, with operators exceeding it to the tune of an average of 526 pounds of dumping each day.

In 2001, the EPA mandated a 58.5 percent reduction in nitrogen dumping in the Sound by 2016. The district’s plant was unable to meet the targets set by the order, and, following negotiations, the DEC set higher limits for the plant until 2014.

Save the Sound contends that the agreement violates the Clean Water Act and accuses the DEC of failing to notify the public as required.

“We should be moving forward and working to ensure that both Connecticut and New York are going to meet the 2014 nitrogen reduction goals, not sliding backwards,” said Leah Schmalz, director of legislative and legal affairs for Save the Sound in the press release. “Connecticut has made great strides in reducing nitrogen discharges by investing in the Clean Water Fund and upgrading our sewer systems. However, upgrades in New York are still lagging behind due to minimal funding and lax enforcement. By relaxing the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District’s nitrogen limit, NYSDEC is putting its stamp of approval on the continued pollution of the Sound.”

The DEC disputed the criticism in a statement to the Great Neck News.