The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to close two illegal cesspools at a mobile home park in Los Angeles County.
The EPA filed a complaint charging Eric Hauck, the operator of Cactus Creek Mobile Home Park in Acton, Calif., with operating two illegal large-capacity cesspools at the mobile home site, according to a March 13 news release. The complaint calls for closing the cesspools, which can cause water pollution linked to disease, and a civil penalty up to $337,725.
“It is crucial that businesses use proper wastewater treatment systems to protect groundwater from disease-causing pollution,” EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman said in the release. “EPA will continue to pursue enforcement actions to close illegal large capacity cesspools and thereby safeguard our communities.”
Large-capacity cesspools were banned by the EPA in April 2005 under the Safe Drinking Water Act’s Underground Injection Control program, the release said. Cesspools can collect and release waterborne pollutants, such as untreated raw sewage, into the ground. This can cause contamination to the groundwater, streams, rivers, the ocean and other bodies of water by disease-causing pathogens.
Hauck has reportedly been operating the cesspools at the mobile home park despite a 2016 California Superior Court order ordering him to cease park operations, according to the news release. Hauck is cited in the EPA’s complaint individually and as trustee of Acton Holding Trust.
The EPA works to enforcement environmental laws with the intent of protecting human health and the environment, the release reported. EPA can and will take civil or criminal enforcement action against violators of environmental law as the agency works to ensure environmental requirements compliance.
More information on the Safe Drinking Water Act and large-capacity cesspools can be found on the EPA website.
