8/28/2024
WT Staff
 August 28, 2024 227 pm EDT
CWA CrimeBox
Environmental Crimes Historic Conviction: Fiscal Year 2006; Case ID# CR_1592(California)
Metal finisher fined for discharging contaminated wastewater to city facility
One of 72 Clean Water Act Criminal Prosecutions in the State of California (from 1989-2023)
The defendant in this case owned and operated a metal finishing business in Escondido, California.
Inspectors to the facility located an unapproved sewer connection in the building. A pipe from the metal plating process water tank, run through a hole carved in the wall, draining the heavy metal contaminated process water directly to the city wastewater treatment plant.
Metal plating activity generates a contaminated wastewater stream that requires special treatment prior to discharge and/or hazardous materials handling permit and disposal. Suspicions arose when the defendant could not provide documentation of hazardous waste disposal from the site. The defendant initially denied knowledge of the illegal piping, eventually plead guilty to a single count violation of the Clean Water Act. The defendant was sentenced to five years probation and a federal fine.
Federal Fine: $25,000; Special Assessment: $100; Probation: 60 months
CWA CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.
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