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The U.S. Attorney’s Office (Central District of California) issued a January 13th news release stating that Tim Miller (“Miller”) and his company Klean Waters Inc. (“Klean Waters”) each pleaded guilty to one felony count of knowingly violating a requirement of an approved pretreatment program.

Miller is stated to have been the owner and President of Klean Waters which is described as a wastewater treatment facility in Orange County, California.

Klean Waters is stated to have been permitted to receive non-hazardous industrial wastewater. Further, it was required to treat such wastewater for pollutants if needed and discharge the wastewater into the Orange County Sanitation District’s (“OCSD”) sewer.

OCSD operates a pretreatment program pursuant to the Clean Water Act. As a result, it implements and enforces the national pretreatment standards under that statute. Any violation of the pretreatment program’s requirements is stated to be a violation of the Clean Water Act (i.e., federal law).

Miller is alleged to have in April 2015 discharged wastewater without testing it into the OCSD sewer. As a result, the type and concentrations of pollutants in the wastewater discharged into the sewer is stated to have remained unknown.

Klean Waters OCSD pretreatment permit is stated to have required it to test and, if necessary, treat the wastewater so that the level of pollutants remained below permitted levels when discharged into the OCSD sewer.

Miller is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on April 14th at which he will face a statutory maximum sentence of three years in federal prison. Klean Waters is facing a statutory maximum sentence of three years’ probation and $50,000 in fines.

A copy of the press release can be downloaded here.