Sip-In-Caution: Crystal Geyser Charged For Disposing Arsenic-Tainted Water

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Crystal Geyser Charged For Illegally Disposing Contaminated Water

This is a good to know story, if your a bottles water drinker.

Bottled water giant Crystal Geyser has been charged by a grand jury with 16 counts of violating environmental and hazardous waste laws, after evidence showed the company improperly disposed of toxic waste, a Department of Justice press release said.

According to NBC, the charges don’t allege that CG Roxane LLC sold tainted water, but that it illegally shipped and disposed of the toxic waste filtered from well water. Reportedly, naturally occurring arsenic was filtered out of water pumped from wells and later discharged in a pond near the company’s Olancha facility in the Owens Valley, 160 miles north of Los Angeles.

 The company then hired two outside firms to drain and dispose of the water in the pond.

The three companies violated federal law by not disclosing in shipping documents that they were transporting hazardous waste that contained arsenic, the indictment said. Federal law requires that toxic and other hazardous waste be documented from “cradle to grave.”

Crystal Geyser’s parent company, CG Roxane, along with two contracted companies, each face a maximum of $8 million in fines if convicted.