4/30/2024
WT Staff
CWA CrimeBox
Environmental Crimes Historic Conviction: Fiscal Year 2003; Case ID# CR_922(Ohio)
Prison time for business owner discharging caustic wastewater
One of 56 Criminal Prosecutions in Ohio under the Clean Water Act (from 1989-2022)
The defendant in this case is the owner of a Cincinnati-based company servicing storage tanks, presumably cleaning liquid storage tanks of all descriptions as part of that core business.
The untreated wastewater stream generated in the normal operation of this service "regularly dumped" into the Cincinnati public sewer system, according to information presented to federal municipal court, as far back as 1995. Highly caustic wastewater damages sewage treatment equipment and can render the microbial component of sewage treatment ineffective. The defendant filed reports twice a year making declarations that the business was not discharging prohibited contaminants to the Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD). In February 2001, pH levels as high as 13 were detected in the municipal treatment works and traced back to the defendant's connection. The defendant was charged with and pled guilty to a single count violation of the Clean Water Act.
Prison: 4 months and a day; Community Service: 40 hours; Special Assessment: $100
CWA CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.
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