Starlite discharged wastewater with an average pH of 3 – well below the national standard pH level of 5 mandated by the Clean Water Act. There are strict controls on the discharge of acidic wastewater into sewer systems because low pH wastewater can cause damage to sewage treatment systems. Starlite treated and disposed of industrial wastewater. But, according to the indictment, the company and the individual defendants repeatedly and regularly discharged acidic wastewater into a sewer system operated by the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, and, ultimately, by the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, from November 2014 through June 2015.

While Starlite was required to monitor the wastewater it discharged into the sewer, the indictment alleges that the defendants attempted to avoid detection of the illegal discharges by placing monitoring devices in buckets of clean water. As a result of this tampering, the monitors created records that showed the discharges were within legal limits, according to the indictment.

• Clean Water Act (CWA)