Lawn Service Firm Fined $160,000 for Stream Pollution

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has levied heavy fines against a lawn care company for disposing a herbicide-pesticide-fertilizer mixture into a small stream.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has fined EG Systems of Marysville, Ohio, $160,000 in connection with an employee’s deliberate disposal of an herbicide-pesticide-fertilizer mixture into a small Allegheny County stream. EG Systems does business in the Pittsburgh area as Scotts Lawn Service.

According to the DEP, In June 2010 investigators discovered an EG Systems employee at the Scotts Lawn Service location in Monroeville, Pa. had built a siphon system connecting an 8,000-gallon holding tank to a gutter downspout drain. The drain empties directly into a storm sewer which discharges into an unnamed tributary that flows into Thompson Run.

On June 30, 2010, the employee used the siphon to drain five gallons of a mixture of herbicide, pesticide, fertilizer and water into the drain, in order to test how long it would take to drain a known volume of the material. Neighbors noticed a strong odor coming from the storm sewer, but officials could not pinpoint the source, apparently because the discharge was too small.

The next day, the employee used the siphon to discharge between 800 and 1,000 gallons of the mixture into the drain. Neighbors complained about the odor and contacted local police and fire officials. This time, officials found the source and contacted DEP, which notified EG Systems. The company promptly hired an environmental remediation contractor to handle the cleanup.