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12/18/2024
WT Staff
 Knowledge of an environmental crime? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email info@watertoday.ca
December 18, 2024 140 pm PST
CWA CrimeBox
Environmental Crimes Historic Conviction: Fiscal Year 2011; Case ID# CR_2160(California)
Wire manufacturer out $1.5 million to cover damage to the public wastewater infrastructure
One of 72 Clean Water Act Criminal Prosecutions in the State of California (from 1989-2023)
The defendant in this case is a manufacturer of galvanized wire, produced with sulfuric acid as part of the process. Industrial process wastewater from the facility requires pre-treatment to neutralize the acidity prior to discharge to the municipal sanitary sewer, the pH of discharge permitted can be no less than 6.0.
EPA investigators followed up after a Los Angeles County Sanitation District (LACSD) employee detected acidic water in the main trunk wastewater collection line, tested at pH 3.0. The acidic water was tracked back to the sewer pipe from the defendant's property in Irwindale.
Inspectors found the defendant's wastewater treatment system out of service, and fourteen acidic discharges recorded from February through May 2008, in the range of 4.0 to as low as 1.0 pH. The corrosion damage in the main trunk sewer line was serious enough to require relining, at a cost of $1 million.
The federal district judge sentenced the defendant to a federal fine and restitution payable to Los Angeles County Sanitation Department to cover the re-lining of the wastewater infrastructure.
Federal Fine: $25,000; Restitution: $1,500,000
CWA CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.
See last week's CrimeBox here, Mystery chemical spill in San Pedro Creek tracked back to a storm drain in Goleta, business owner prosecuted for illegal discharge
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