U.S. Water News Online
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Puerto Rico's water and sewer authority agreed to pay the biggest criminal fine ever against a utility for violating the U.S. Clean Water Act by dumping human waste into waterways and the sea, officials said.
Under a plea agreement, the island's Aqueduct and Sewer Authority will pay $9 million, according to a joint statement from the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency.
The utility known as PRASA agreed to plead guilty to 15 felony counts of violating the federal environmental law by discharging millions of gallons of inadequately treated sewage and raw sewage from its treatment plants between 2001 and 2005.
Utility officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
"Today's criminal and civil actions are a landmark step in assisting PRASA, an offender with a pervasive history of violations, to comply with the Clean Water Act," said Sue Ellen Wooldridge, assistant attorney general for the U.S. Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.
Under the terms of the agreement, the utility will upgrade nine wastewater treatment plants identified in the indictment for a cost of at least $109 million and serve a five-year probation, the statement said.
It will also complete capital improvements at the wastewater treatment system in the capital of San Juan at a cost of at least $10 million.
The utility must spend more than $1.7 billion over the next 15 years on capital improvement projects and other remedial measures at wastewater and drinking water treatment plants throughout the U.S. Caribbean territory, according to the statement.
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