Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet
Sewage company, operator fined $10,000 for violating federal Clean Water Act

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Dec. 7, 2006) – A sewage company and its principal officer have been fined $10,000 in U.S. District Court after pleading guilty to a violation of the Clean Water Act.

In addition, Charles G. Hungler Jr., president of Perfect-A-Waste Sewage Equipment Co., was put on one year of probation. Senior U.S. District Judge Karl S. Forester handed down the penalties on Nov. 17 in Lexington. 

Hungler, of Fairfield, Ohio, was indicted along with his company on May 4 following an investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Inspector General of the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet.

Hungler and the company each pleaded guilty to a single count of making a false statement on discharge monitoring reports required under the Clean Water Act.

The reports submitted by Hungler and Perfect-A-Waste in July 2005 contained sampling information for the Edgewood wastewater treatment plant in Franklin County.

Hungler and the company “knew that most of these samples were not collected and that the entries were false,” the indictment said.