Former PWSA supervisor pleads guilty to Clean Water Act violations in sludge releases

A former supervisor at the Aspinwall Drinking Water Treatment Plant pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to allegations that he and other employees dumped sludge directly into the Allegheny River in violation of the Clean Water Act.

Glenn Lijewski, 71, of Brookline, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States before U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV. He will be sentenced on Aug. 16.

Although the recommended sentencing guideline range for Lijewski is 18 to 24 months of incarceration, the government agreed as part of the plea deal to recommend a sentence of three years of probation.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said Lijewski and other employees and supervisors at the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority dumped sludge into the river from the Aspinwall treatment facility from 2010 to 2017, sending rust-colored chemicals into the river.

The sludge is generated during the drinking water treatment process and is supposed to be pumped to the ALCOSAN waste treatment facility. The employees at the Aspinwall plant pumped it directly into the river instead, prosecutors said.

In addition, federal prosecutors said that written reports to the Environmental Protection Agency documenting the amount of sludge generated daily were falsified because equipment used to measure it was broken.

PWSA, which also was charged by the federal government in November 2020, pleaded guilty in January 2021 to one count of violating its pollutant discharge permit and one count of making false statements.

In exchange for the plea agreement, PWSA agreed to pay $500,000 into a self-funded compliance program. In addition, it will be on probation for three years during which time it must submit annual reports and audits to the Department of Justice and EPA.

The agreement prohibits PWSA from raising rates to pay the fine.

In Lijewski’s case, his plea agreement calls for him to participate in the creation of a public service announcement or other activity that addresses his conduct and the ramifications of it. That PSA will then be available for distribution to drinking water production or treatment trade organizations.

Another former supervisor who also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, James Paprocki, of Ross, is scheduled to be sentenced on July 21.