Thursday, August 1, 2013

Longmont man-firm fined over sewage in reservoir


 
DENVER (AP) - A federal judge has fined a Longmont man and his self-storage company for illegally discharging sewage from the company into Union Reservoir in Longmont.

Federal prosecutors say John Albert Paquette and East Point LLC each were fined $10,000 Monday after pleading guilty in April to violating the Clean Water Act.

Court documents say that on June 20, 2012, Paquette and East Point knowingly discharged 1,000 gallons of raw sewage from a hose into the Oligarchy Ditch, which flowed into Union Reservoir.

The reservoir is used for outdoor recreation including swimming, fishing and boating.

Link to article from KOAA, a local news source for this area that covers the Front Range area below:


Matt’s rant: Water quality is not a hot topic for a lot of folks but for anglers it can mean the difference between a good fishing spot and human generated fish kill. A lot more could be done in regards to educating the public about potential dangers that are not obvious to the naked eye. Publicizing the bad examples and penalties that are handed down to polluters may also help stress the importance of water quality overall. At the very least it may help explain why those crappie from Union Reservoir smell a bit like crap.

Good luck and good fishing

1 comment:

Daniel said...

Not to mention polluting the water affects not only the surrounding beach and wetlands but can affect the entire water table. There needs to be more than a slap on the wrist to individuals causing problems like this.