CALIFORNIA COMPANY DISCHARGES UNTREATED WASTEWATER
Release Date: 09/17/2001
Contact Information:
FOR RELEASE: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2001
CALIFORNIA COMPANY DISCHARGES UNTREATED WASTEWATER
Luke C. Hester 202-464-7818 / hester.luke@epa.gov
Bonner Metal Processing, LLC., of Livermore, Calif., pleaded guilty on Sept. 4 to illegally discharging untreated wastewater, and agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and serve three years probation for violating the Clean Water Act (CWA). The defendant must also implement a pollution prevention plan. Bonner is a metal finishing firm which uses an electroplating process that involves a number of chemicals, including nickel. The defendant has a permit to discharge treated plating wastewater into city sewers. The wastewater is treated at the city treatment plant before being discharged into San Francisco Bay. Instead of pretreating its wastewater, the defendant simply diluted it and discharged it into the sewers in violation of its CWA permit. Such failure to pretreat wastewater can damage sewage treatment plant equipment. Any untreated waste that ends up in surface waters can make them unfit for recreation, and place fish and wildlife in jeopardy. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division in Washington, D.C., with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Oakland.
R-157 ###
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