EPA settlement of pretreatment violations from Librandi’s Plating helps protect water quality of Susquehanna tributary
PHILADELPHIA (August 13, 2019) - Librandi’s Plating of Middletown, Pennsylvania, has agreed to settle Clean Water Act violations involving the discharge of pollutants to a collection system for a municipal wastewater treatment facility, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. Librandi’s Plating will pay a $30,000 penalty and take corrective actions as part of the settlement.
According to EPA, the company violated regulations for facilities that discharge industrial waste to publicly-owned treatment plants. These facilities must comply with “pretreatment” limits and monitoring requirements before discharging industrial waste to municipal treatment facilities. Excessive industrial discharges may pass through or interfere with the operation of the treatment plants, which are generally designed to handle sewage and domestic waste.
Librandi’s Plating, an industrial metal finishing facility, has Clean Water Act discharge limitations and monitoring requirements allowing the facility to discharge treated industrial wastewater to a wastewater treatment facility near the Harrisburg Airport, which further treats the wastewater and eventually discharges to a tributary of the Susquehanna River.
According to EPA, the company’s discharge exceeded applicable limits for nickel, zinc, chromium and cyanide. EPA also alleged that the company failed to notify EPA after becoming aware of the violations, and did not repeat sampling as required by Clean Water Act regulations.
As part of the settlement, the company did not admit liability for the alleged violations, but has stated that it is now in compliance with applicable Clean Water Act requirements.
For more information about EPA’s Pretreatment Program, visit https://www.epa.gov/npdes/national-pretreatment-program