Patrick James Schwarte, Clean Water Act Violation, Iowa 2019
A former Sioux City, Iowa, man was sentenced for conspiring to rig environmental testing at a large Iowa regional wastewater treatment plant.
Patrick James Schwarte, age 71, from Sioux City, Iowa, received a prison sentence after a January 23, 2019, guilty plea to one count of conspiracy and one count of knowingly falsifying, tampering with, and rendering inaccurate a monitoring device or method required to be maintained under the Clean Water Act.
The evidence at the guilty plea and sentencing hearings showed that Schwarte was employed at the Sioux City Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) for over 30 years, most recently as shift supervisor. Schwarte maintained a wastewater treatment certification from the State of Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and possessed extensive training and experience in municipal wastewater treatment.
The WWTP is a large regional sewage treatment plant for wastewater from industrial, commercial, and residential sources throughout Siouxland, including Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, South Sioux City, Nebraska, North Sioux City, South Dakota, and Dakota Dunes, South Dakota.
Between March 15 and November 15 each year, when public use of the Missouri River was at its highest levels, the WWTP was also required to disinfect its wastewater to remove potentially dangerous human pathogens, including fecal coliform bacteria or E. coli.
Schwartes tampering with the monitoring methods allowed for the chlorine in the wastewater to reach sufficient concentrations to avoid showing elevated levels of fecal coliform bacteria or E. coli, which would violate the WWTP’s CWA permits.
Schwartes sentence was handed down for violating the Clean Water Act. The engineering firm that designed the liquid chlorine feed system at the WWTP estimated that approximately 16.7 gallons of chlorine would need to be fed per hour to properly kill bacteria.
The WWTP never reported any exceedances of its CWA permit limits for bacteria or residual chlorine after July 2012.
Key Facts
- State: Iowa
- Category: Environmental Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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