A Milwaukee company has agreed to plead guilty to one charge of violating the Clean Water Act, a negligent misdemeanor, after several employees disposed of untreated chemical waste into the sewage system over the course of several months.
Milwaukee Precision Casting, Inc. is a casting foundry that makes simple cast steel components and complex aluminum cast components for the military, firearms, medical, and aerospace industries. The company uses corrosive chemicals to dissolve casting molds.
The plea agreement explains the MPC facility, located at 3400 S. Nevada St., houses a sump pit that’s connected to the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District sewage system. Beginning in June 2020, MPC and its employees discarded used and untreated chemical waste, including waste with a pH below 5.0 standard units, through the sump pit into the MMSD sewage system. This continued through about September 2021, according to the plea agreement.
The Clean Water Act prohibits people and businesses from discharging any pollutant into any body of water in the U.S. without authorization. Federal regulations define the term "pollutant" to include discharges having a pH lower than 5.0 standard units.
“The employees that discharged the chemical waste were acting within the scope and nature of their employment, and for the benefit of MPC,” according to the plea agreement. “MPC did not have the necessary industrial pretreatment permits from MMSD to discharge pollutants into the Milwaukee sewage system.”
The company declined to comment on the charge or the plea agreement.
MPC will likely face a recommended financial penalty of $100,000, according to the agreement. Half of that money will be a fine while the other half will go towards approved environmental compliance and remedial efforts.
