TVA INSPECTOR GENERAL: Case Highlights Importance of Truthful Reporting

http://oig.tva.gov/Connection/March08.html


Case Highlights Importance of Truthful Reporting

If the possibility existed that deadly E-coli bacteria were lurking in a nearby waterway, wouldn’t you want to know that testing was being done to ensure that it wasn’t?

That’s exactly what didn’t happen for the citizens of Rockwood when one of the city’s sewage treatment plant operators Paul William Perkins falsified reports on emissions testing to wastewater that was dumped into Roane County’s Black Creek for nine months in 2004. Perkins claimed the water had been tested when, in fact, it had not been because the testing equipment was inoperable at the time.

TVA has designated Black Creek as part of its protected watershed area. TVA’s watershed program, established in 1992, was designed to protect waterways in the Tennessee Valley from pollutants in order to maintain clean drinking water for people and wildlife. TVA OIG, along with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division and its OIG conducted the collaborative investigation that led to Perkins' sentencing on Monday, March 10.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips sentenced Perkins, 28, to two years' probation and community service for making a false statement on a document required by the Clean Water Act, which prohibits the discharge of pollutants into any U.S. water without a permit from the EPA. “I hope you understand the reason for all of this taking place,” Phillips told Perkins. “That law was designed to protect the public.” Perkins, who reported monthly that the water being discharged into Black Creek had been tested, knew in fact that it had not been because the testing equipment was broken at the time.

“This case highlights the importance of waste water emissions testing,” said OIG Special Agent Nikki Young who worked on the case. “The Clean Water Act is designed to protect the public from potential hazards such as E-coli which has been linked to infection and death.” Later testing did not reveal the presence of E coli in the plant’s water