Anonymous
Source: Department of Justice
The company that produces “Crystal Geyser Natural Alpine Spring Water” pleaded guilty this morning to federal charges of illegally storing and transporting hazardous waste created from filtering arsenic out of spring water at its facility in Olancha, California.
CG Roxane, LLC pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful storage of hazardous waste and one count of unlawful transportation of hazardous material. In a plea agreement recently filed in United States District Court, CG Roxane agreed to pay a criminal fine of $5 million.
According to court documents, CG Roxane obtained water by drawing groundwater from the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains that contained naturally occurring arsenic. The company used sand filters to reduce the concentration of arsenic so the water would meet federal drinking water standards. To maintain the effectiveness of the sand filters, CG Roxane back-flushed the filters with a sodium hydroxide solution, which generated thousands of gallons of arsenic-contaminated wastewater.
For approximately 15 years, CG Roxane discharged the arsenic-contaminated wastewater into a manmade pond – known as “the Arsenic Pond” – at its Olancha facility along Highway 395.
In March 2013, the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board took a sample from the Arsenic Pond and in 2014 informed CG Roxane that the sample had an arsenic concentration that was more than eight times the hazardous waste limit, creating a risk to the area’s groundwater and wildlife. The water board referred the matter to the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), which took its own samples that showed the Arsenic Pond had an arsenic concentration almost five times the federal hazardous waste limit. Subsequent sampling and testing by CG Roxane and its retained laboratory confirmed a similar arsenic concentration in the Arsenic Pond.
DTSC officials met with CG Roxane representatives in April 2015, presented a list of preliminary violations, and instructed the company to arrange for the removal of the Arsenic Pond.
In May 2015, CG Roxane hired two Los Angeles-area entities to remove the hazardous waste and transport it – which was done without the proper manifest and without identifying the wastewater as a hazardous material, according to court documents. The arsenic-contaminated wastewater was ultimately transported to a Southern California facility that was not authorized to receive or treat hazardous waste. As a result, more than 23,000 gallons of the wastewater from the Arsenic Pond allegedly was discharged into a sewer without appropriate treatment.
CG Roxane pleaded guilty to the two felony offenses before United States District Judge S. James Otero, who scheduled a sentencing hearing for February 24.
The two companies hired to transport and treat the wastewater – United Pumping Services, Inc. and United Storm Water, Inc., both located in the City of Industry – were charged along with CG Roxane in this case in 2018. Both of those companies are scheduled to go on trial on April 21. If convicted, each company would face a statutory maximum fine of $8 million.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The investigation in this case focused on alleged violations involving the handling, storage and transportation of CG Roxane’s wastewater, not the safety or quality of CG Roxane’s bottled water.
The investigation in this matter is being conducted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Criminal Investigations Division and the United States Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General. These federal agencies received assistance from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Dennis Mitchell, Heather C. Gorman and Michael G. Freedman of the Environmental and Community Safety Crimes Section.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California also assisted in the investigation.
I got the runs everytime I drank that water as soon as I figured out where the illness was coming from I stopped never drank that water again I don’t care about what was in or out I got sick it was that water that made me sick no more…I did not say anything about arsenic you did.
Read the article to see what they discovered!
Agree – It’s just like the old ” I musta got food poisoning from that dinner last night” syndrome.
Uh sorry, based on a Consumer Reports test, Crystal Geyser has about 3 ppb of arsenic in the water they sell which is about twenty times the level in Santa Barbara City tap water. Chumps!
…and how many billions of plastic bottles were used to bottle water no better than what comes out of your tap? And how much fuel was used to all the trucks used to distribute it? Well, I guess it’s better than importing water from Fiji. Sigh.
5491- you are so over the top intelligent! Why, I’ve read your comment regarding “correlation and causation” and I don’t understand a word of what message you are trying to convey! Man, I should have continued my studies and gotten that darn masters! But I compliment you on your obvious stellar intelligence, and hope that someday you will be able to communicate “downhill” so that simple folk like myself can comprehend.
Activated carbon filter. Better than what’s pumped out of the ground under Highway 395….
A reverse-osmosis filter gives excellent drinking and cooking water. Less than $200 if you can install it yourself. My first one lasted over 30 years when fed from a water softner. No plastic bottle waste.
I am not surprised got sick as hell drinking this water acouple years back never drank it again…
The arsenic wasn’t in the water, Roger unless you were getting a killer “deal” on bottles of the stuff before the water passed through the sand filter system! It must have been something else that was getting you sick. 😉
Drinking R.O. water is not good. Water devoid of minerals becomes “aggressive” and “eats” into water pipes and also leaches minerals out of your body if you drink it without adding back anything. That is why the desalination plant adds back some “lime crap” (a cheap form of calcium) –so that the aggressive soft R.O. water they produce does not erode city (and home) pipes. Of course they don’t add back more expensive minerals like magnesium and the desal water is very poor quality and carries extra bacteria and impurities that need treatment so the disinfectant levels in it are sometimes so high the water stinks of chemicals. Obviously you can’t drink that. Cachuma water and ground water in Santa Barbara can also have problems. Brita filters (read the disclaimer) only improve the TASTE of water–they don’t actually filter out enough chloramine, etc. to do you any good, and the membrane isn’t small enough to help at all with bacterial etc. contaminants. Brita maybe tastes better and makes you feel safer, but it doesnt do much. Considering all these things, one is wise to drink bottled water. You just have to find the right kind. To avoid plastic, glass bottles are better for the environment and for your health. Reputable long-time brands like Acqua Panna and Mountain Spring water (in glass) are among the best.
Reverse osmosis wastes 3gallons of water to make 1 gallon if drinking water. Just buy a brita pitcher
A reverse osmosis system wastes about 4 gallons of water per gallon made. If you use 3 gallons a day for drinking, cooking and internal consumption, that means you will waste about 12 gallons, making a reverse osmosis system about 25% effecient! That’s an OK trade off if you’re using ocean water, but it seems wasteful with Cachuma water.
Brita pitchers are about $30 and filters are a constant expense from then on. The cost of the wasted water from reverse osmosis is almost immeasurably small (less than a penny a gallon). The idea that we are helping the world by purchasing disposable “purification” stuff which is not recyclable is the stuff of advertising baloney. In addition one has no idea when the Brita filter is no longer working nor if it contains accumulated or home grown bacteria. Why would we think such a device is healthy?