Severn Trent assessed biggest environmental fine in state history

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OKLAHOMA CITY – Severn Trent Services is facing the biggest environmental fine ever levied in Oklahoma for failing to meet minimum chlorine standards. The company’s operations potentially put 8,123 Hugo-area residents at risk of drinking unsafe water for 317 days over two years, an Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality  investigation found.

The agency imposed a $3.17 million penalty, which DEQ Executive Director Scott Thompson said was due to the nature and number of the violations.

The fine is three times larger than any other levied by the agency’s Water Quality Division, said Director Shellie Chard-McClary. The DEQ outlined the federal and state laws the company allegedly violated in an administrative compliance order issued Aug. 7.

An agency audit found the company didn’t use enough chlorine; in some cases, no chlorine at all was detected in drinking water samples submitted to the agency. Improperly disinfected water can contain dangerous bacteria, viruses and parasites such as E. coli, norovirus and Giardia that can pose an immediate public health danger.

Read more: Boiling over: How a multinational company left Hugo with unsafe water.

In general, the agency can work with violators to fix problems, rather than issue fines. But Severn Trent violated federal Safe Drinking Water Act laws, which DEQ oversees in Oklahoma, Chard-McClary said.

“When we are addressing acute human-health violations, it is very important we address them through an order,” she said. “We do take a strong action when violations could impact human health.”

Hugo outsourced its drinking water and wastewater operations to Severn Trent in 2007. The city provides water to about 5,500 residents, as well as about 2,500 people in Grant and to Choctaw Rural Water District No. 1.

The DEQ discovered problems with the city’s water in December 2014, when monthly tests showed the water was too cloudy. Murky water can be safe to drink, but cloudiness interferes with chlorine disinfection tests.

Severn Trent’s water tests also showed the water was too cloudy in January, triggering a mandatory comprehensive evaluation. DEQ staff conducted a weeklong inspection at the end of February and discovered dozens of violations, including malfunctioning equipment.

Records the company initially submitted to DEQ from January 2013 to March 2015 appeared to meet state and federal requirements, according to DEQ documents. But it wasn’t until April 3 that agency officials learned two years’ worth of data didn’t match the original reports Severn Trent provided. Chard-McClary said she couldn’t address how or why the original information wasn’t correct.

Severn Trent told the DEQ on April 3 its own internal review identified several issues it previously had not reported. The water was too cloudy numerous times and the company never reported those problems to the DEQ, violating federal law. The company was missing two years’ worth of data because cloudiness-monitoring-equipment wasn’t working, documents show.

DEQ officials met with Severn Trent Regional Manager John Bannen on April 16 to discuss the company’s reporting error disclosure. Severn Trent employees offered to resubmit data from January 2013 to March 2015, the full amount DEQ can examine, according to statutory limitations. Bannen told agency staff he hadn’t yet told Hugo city officials the problems DEQ discovered in its February inspection.

Because the water tests weren’t correctly reported to DEQ, the public wasn’t alerted when the water was unsafe from January 2013 to March 2015, according to agency documents. Severn Trent resubmitted water quality data to DEQ from that period three to five times, so it’s difficult for DEQ to know exactly when the water was unsafe, Chard-McClary said.

If the agency doesn’t have timely and accurate water test data, it is difficult to protect public health, she said.

On May 20, DEQ issued a mandatory boil order lasting six days. Chard-McClary said a May 26 test showed Hugo’s water met state and federal drinking water safety standards. But problems continued at least through June, she said. Water tests showed the water was too cloudy and there was not enough chlorine or no chlorine in June 2015.

She said DEQ doesn’t currently have a boil order in place for Hugo-area residents. The company is required to take samples every 15 minutes and submit that information to the agency monthly, because it serves fewer than 10,000 customers. However, if two consecutive 15-minute tests show there isn’t enough chlorine or the water is too cloudy, they are required to notify the agency right away.

“We have no records submitted that indicate (Hugo’s water) is out of compliance with Safe Drinking Water Act standards,” she said. “I can’t say with 100-percent certainty the water is safe at this moment, or the moment the article is published.”

The company self-identified reporting issues to DEQ and is working with the agency to ensure those issues are corrected, Severn Trent Spokeswoman Tracey Rotan said in a voice-mail message to The Journal Record. The company’s policy is not to speculate on the outcome of regulatory procedures or actions, she said.

The company has 15 days from when it received the administrative order to request an appeals hearing or settlement. The company can further appeal to state district court if it is unsatisfied with the outcome of that hearing.