Milwaukee casting foundry must pay $100K for dumping untreated wastewater into the sewage system

A Milwaukee casting foundry will need to pay $100,000 for dumping untreated wastewater into the sewage system, a judge ordered Monday.

According to a news release from U.S. Department of Justice, Milwaukee Precision Casting, 3400 S. Nevada St., operated without proper permits from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District, in addition to having employees that negligently discharged pollutants into the sewage system.

MPC was charged in federal court on July 14 and pleaded guilty that same day.

According to the DOJ, in some cases, MPC employees discharged wastewater that had a pH below 5, which is in violation of the Clean Water Act.

The pH is a measure of how acidic or basic water is. The range goes from 0-14, with 7 being neutral. A pH level less than 7 indicates acidity. In comparison, black coffee has a pH level of 5.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, which conducted the investigation, MPC illegally dumped untreated wastewater on 17 days.

MPC agreed to pay $50,000 at the time of sentencing and to spend $50,000 on environmental compliance efforts above what is legally required over the next five years, the DOJ said.

Leadership with MPC was not able to be reached before publication of this story.