Marmon Utility, LLC, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, owns and operates the Kerite Power Cable & Pump Cable factory. Kerite manufactures large power cables and generates industrial wastewater containing heavy metals such as lead and zinc. Under its 2015 CT DEEP permit, authorities required Marmon to properly operate and maintain the wastewater treatment system at the factory to reduce the heavy-metal content by chemical precipitation before discharging the wastewater to the publicly owned treatment plant (POTW).

Beginning in 1989, the Kerite factory employed an environmental facilities manager to operate the wastewater treatment system and the sludge filter press. In February 2004, the company laid off this employee following significant staff downsizing. The maintenance employee charged with taking over the WWTS left the company in March 2016. For the next five months, the employees did not check and maintain the pH probe, operate the sludge filter press, or change the bag filters.

On September 7 and 8, 2016, the POTW superintendent observed unusual, rusty brown wastewater flowing into the plant and notified CT DEEP. This rusty brown influent interfered with the POTW’s sewage treatment capacity. Testing confirmed lead concentrations at approximately 127 times greater than the plant’s normal readings, and greater than ten times the typical zinc concentration. Over the next several days, POTW personnel were forced to add several truckloads of biologic microorganisms to break down the unprocessed sewage. It took two weeks for the treatment plant to return to usual operational capacity.

State authorities issued a Notice of Violation to Marmot following an inspection of the Kerite facility that confirmed it was the source of the illegal discharge. Further investigation disclosed that employees had resorted to emptying the full tanks, instead of treating the industrial wastewater.

• Clean Water Act (CWA)