Coastal waters, including Long Island Sound, remain inadequately protected under the latest five-year municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permit, which the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued in April.

Storm water runoff introduces a wide range of pollutants into rivers, lakes and oceans.That is the allegation made against DEC in a lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in White Plains by several environmental groups, including Soundkeeper, Natural Resources Defense Council, Riverkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance. The suit charges that the state is violating pollution regulations outlined by the federal Clean Water Act.

"It's a massive pollution concern we have," Soundkeeper founder Terry Backer told the Journal News. "Stormwater is basically anything that comes off your streets in the rain. It's everything you can imagine as you walk down the street and look in the gutter, from dog feces to dead animals to garbage."

The lawsuit says the state isn't taking enough measures to regulate storm water "to the maximum extent practicable." Backer said the state should have stricter regulation, like requiring municipalities to build rain gardens to filter the storm water.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency gives New York and other states authority to write their own permits. Maureen Wren, a DEC spokesman, said the EPA has never cited the state for any wrongdoing with its permits.