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4/9/2026
WT Staff
 Knowledge of an environmental crime? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email info@wtny.us
April 9, 2025 1 pm EDT
CrimeBox
Historic Conviction Fiscal Year 2011; Case ID# CR_2177 (Iowa)
Industrial Laundromat discharges oil and grease contaminated wastewater for nearly three years, fined $450,000
The Clean Water Act directs the United States Environmental Protection Agency to make known and enforce regulations establishing pre-treatment wastewater standards for the levels of pollutants that are introduced into a publicly owned wastewater treatment facility. The EPA can also delegate state and local entities the authority to administer their own pre-treatment permit program, and these requirements are federally enforceable.
United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt, Federal Court, Southern District of Iowa
The Defendant in this case is an incorporated industrial laundry service, headquartered in Minnesota, charged with a single felony violation of the Clean Water Act for years of illegal discharges to the local sanitary sewer system.
The City of Des Moine issued the Defendant a pre-treatment and wastewater discharge permit for its facility in Pleasant Hill, Iowa. The discharge permit stipulated maximum contaminant levels acceptable for discharge to the Des Moines Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation Authority (WRA). Oil and grease is a common contaminant removed in the course of cleaning heavily soiled industrial materials. The Defendant's discharge permit allowed up to 400 mg/L of oil and grease, based on the ability of the WRA to treat to safe level for release to the environment.
The Federal Court of the Southern District of Ohio received a bill of information demonstrating the Defendant had, on multiple occasions from October 2005 through August 2008 released industrial process water with oil and grease in excess of the City's permitted level. In other words, the WRA was taking in a contaminated discharge that it could not effectively handle, potentially causing damage to the municipal facilities, risk of fire and explosion in the facility, and the possibility of harm to the environment if the WRA were to pass along the contamination, breaching its own acceptable discharge parameters.
The Defendant pled guilty to the single charge, sentenced to a federal fine of $450,000.
In the press release from Southern District of Iowa courthouse, US Attorney Klinefeldt made it clear, his office is "committed to vigorous enforcement of the nation's environmental protection laws to ensure clean air, water and land for all Americans. As President Obama and Attorney General Holder have said, we owe nothing less to the next generation than the sound management of our environment and natural resources."
"Improper disposal of waste water endangers not only the environment but human health," said Michael Burnett, Special Agent in Charge of EPA's Criminal Enforcement program for the Kansas City region. "This investigation prevented untold gallons of oily waste from being dumped into the Des Moines public treatment works and, ultimately, the area's watershed. EPA is committed to making sure criminal violations of environmental laws are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
This investigation was conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency--Criminal Investigation Division and the Des Moines Metropolitan Waste Reclamation Authority, and the case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
Federal Fine: $450,000
See last week's CrimeBox here, "Mint farmer placed on 8 months home detention for illegal discharges "
CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.
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