3/19/2025
WT Staff
 Knowledge of an environmental crime? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email info@wtny.us
March 19, 2025 1222 pm EDT
SDWA CrimeBox
Historic Conviction Fiscal Year 1992; Case ID# CR_462(Arizona)
Achieve criminal status: offer falsified water analysis to residents in your mobile home park
Arizona's one and only criminal conviction under the Safe Drinking Water Act
According to the US Census Bureau, there were 127, 482,865 households in the USA as of 2023.
3.4% of these households are in land-lease arrangements, that is 4,300,000 families living in manufactured homes situated in one of America's 43,000 mobile home communities. Mobile home communities are often responsible for their own public drinking water license. Any development with 15 or more connections or supplying 25 or more people is accountable under the law, responsible to provide clean water as per the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Mobile home communities drinking water may be sourced from a groundwater well, from surface water such as a creek, river or lake, or may be distributing potable water purchased from another licensed drinking water facility such as a municipal water plant. The operator of the mobile home community is responsible for monitoring water quality in the treatment plant and distribution system and reporting the results to the State, as per US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The US EPA enforces compliance with the SDWA, regulating 90 contaminants to protect public health. The requirements for monitoring and reporting are based on the facility type and size with the smaller facilities having the longest testing intervals. All public drinking water facilities must maintain the national standard for drinking water, including requirements for public notice and disclosure, and upholding consumer confidence.
The defendant in this case remains to this day the only person convicted criminally under the SDWA in Arizona. This case from 1992 found the owner-operator of River Ranch Villas near Mammoth, Arizona had supplied falsified water test results to the residents. This breach of trust in the first element of human health was rewarded with a criminal record and probation for one year.
Federal Fine: $0; Restitution: $0; Special Assessment: $0; Probation: 12 months
See last week's CrimeBox here, "Breaking a conspiracy: truckloads of industrial wastewater dumped illegally in Louisiana"
SDWA CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.
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