PWSA Sentenced for Violating Federal Clean Water Act

PITTSBURGH, PA - The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer (PWSA) Authority has been sentenced in federal court to three years’ probation, ordered to pay a monetary judgment in the amount of $500,000, and to implement a comprehensive environmental compliance program after being convicted of violating the federal Clean Water Act, Acting United States Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman announced today.

United States District Judge William S. Stickman, IV imposed the sentence on the PWSA.

According to information presented to the court, PWSA violated its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit when it discharged a substance known as clarifier sludge into the Allegheny River on a number of occasions between 2010 and 2017. Under the terms of its NPDES permit, PWSA was not permitted to discharge sludge into the river. PWSA also violated its Industrial User permit by supplying ALCOSAN with false information about the amount of sludge it was shipping to ALCOSAN’s waste treatment facility. After the meters measuring the flow of sludge to the waste treatment facility became inoperable, the Authority used estimated numbers instead actual numbers. These numbers were included in reports and were certified as truthful and accurate. PWSA replaced the monitors five years after they became inoperable and federal investigators learned of their inoperability. Under the terms of its plea agreement, PWSA agreed to be placed on probation for three years and pay $500,000 into a self-funded compliance fund to be used to establish a comprehensive environmental compliance program. PWSA also agreed to hire an environmental compliance manager and take additional steps to ensure that it will follow state and federal environmental laws, rules, and regulations. PWSA is prohibited from using the cost of the fund as a basis for seeking a rate increase.

In imposing sentence, Judge Stickman observed that the purpose of the monetary judgment served productive as opposed to punitive ends and the PWSA had learned it lesson and was cleaning up its act.

Acting United States Attorney Kaufman commented that the plea agreement reached with the PWSA is intended to “ensure future compliance with federal environmental laws, rules, and regulations and to change the corporate culture at the Aspinwall plant that enabled this criminality to occur. The plea agreement, which precludes the Authority from passing the cost of the required compliance program to its ratepayers, will deter the Authority from engaging in future criminal conduct. The importance of PWSA to the Pittsburgh region cannot be underestimated. Nevertheless, public institutions must and will be held accountable for breaking the law.”

According to Jennifer Lynn, Special Agent in Charge of EPA’s criminal enforcement programs in Pennsylvania, “This sentence reinforces that governmental entities providing environmental services such as drinking water must develop and implement compliance programs that will prevent and detect violations of the law, just as ‘for profit’ organizations must.”

Assistant United States Attorney Michael Leo Ivory and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Martin Harrell, an attorney with the Environmental Protection Agency, prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

Acting United States Attorney Kaufman commended the Environmental Protection Agency, Criminal Investigation Division for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority.