Marmon Utility, a Seymour, Conn., wastewater treatment plant, entered into a plea agreement with the government in federal court on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, to settle allegations of violation of the Clean Water Act, officials said.

SEYMOUR — In a plea deal with the federal government for violating the Clean Water Act, a local manufacturing company has agreed to pay $2.4 million in restitution, prosecutors said.

Marmon Utility waived its right to be indicted and pleaded guilty Tuesday before Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to a felony violation of the Clean Water Act. Marmon Utility is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, which owns and operates the factory.

The charge stems from the company’s alleged knowledge of failing to properly run and maintain the industrial water-waste treatment system and sludge-processing equipment at the power cable and pump cable factory located at 49 Day St. in Seymour.

Under the terms of the plea agreement — which are still set to be accepted by the court — puts Marmon under federal probation for three years.

The agreement also orders Marmon to pay $2.4 million to the government, of which $800,000 will serve as a federal penalty and $1.6 million to fund a supplemental environmental project led by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to “remediate” the Naugatuck River, prosecutors said.

The Seymour factory makes large power cables and generates industrial wastewater with heavy metals like lead and zinc, prosecutors said. Under the factory’s 2015 permit from DEEP, Marmon was required to run and maintain the water-waste treatment system at the factory to reduce the heavy-metal content by chemical precipitation before it was discharged to the sewage treatment plant.

Prosecutors said investigators found that the company had been “cutting back” on its environmental compliance for years. Marmon did not have a worker with an environmental background running the wastewater treatment system since February 2004, according to prosecutors. When the worker who ran the system got sick in March 2016, prosecutors said, Marmon ran the system for five months with employees who lacked environmental training or training on the system.

On Sept. 7 and Sept. 8 in 2016, the superintendent of the Seymour treatment plant saw rusty brown wastewater flowing into the plant and alerted DEEP. The superintendent took samples and found that the lead concentration was about 127 times greater than the plant’s normal lead measurement, and the zinc was over 10 times the usual amount, prosecutors said.

Over the next several days in September 2016, prosecutors said, the superintendent inspected the facility and found it had discharged the rusty brown wastewater with high lead and zinc concentrations on Sept. 7, Sept. 8 and Sept. 9.

To break down the unprocessed sewage, the superintendent ordered several truckloads of biologic microorganisms. Prosecutors said it took two weeks before the treatment plant returned to its usual operation capacity.

On Sept. 27 and Sept. 29 in 2016, DEEP and the plant superintendent inspected the factory and confirmed the superintendent’s prior findings. DEEP issued a notice of violation to Marmon.

Prosecutors said the factory discharged 5,725 gallons of industrial wastewater on Sept. 7, 2016, and 5,225 gallons on Sept. 6 — both of which exceeded the daily limit in the company’s DEEP permit.

An investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicated that from at least April 25, 2016, and through Sept. 29, 2016, the Marmon maintenance employees running the wastewater system did not know how to check and maintain the pH probe, how to run the sludge filter press or how to check or change some filters. Prosecutors said these steps were needed to remove heavy metals from the factory’s wastewater.

These workers told investigators that when tanks got full and the system was imbalanced, they would empty the tank by opening certain valves to let out the wastewater without treating it, prosecutors said. As of mid-October 2016, the 3,000-gallon holding tank at the factory held 1,000 gallons of sludge.

“Any company operating a factory in Connecticut that ignores federal and state environmental laws does so at its own peril,” Boyle said in a statement. “Although Marmon once had a robust environmental program, the company gradually eliminated its environmental compliance department and reassigned these duties to maintenance workers with minimal training.”

Agent in Charge Tyler Amon with EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division for New England said in a statement that the company’s conduct hurt the town.

“A town’s publicly owned wastewater treatment plant disinfects incoming wastewater from industry so clean water can be safely returned to our creeks, rivers and lakes,” Amon said. “The criminal conduct of Marmon Utility compromised Seymour’s operations and the company simply did not play by the rules.”

This offense against the Clean Water Act carries a fine of no less than $5,000 but no more than $50,000 per day of the violation, prosecutors said. The judge scheduled sentencing for April 7, 2022.

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