The majority of manufactured home community owners strive to run clean, safe communities and adhere to all of the rules.
Occasionally, a bad actor shows up. In this case though, the bad actor stinks.
Literally.
Glen Highfield, owner of the Crystal Peak Mobile Home Park in Verdi, Nevada is under investigation for dumping raw sewage into a ditch that led to the nearby Truckee River.
According to News 4, a resident of the community caught the activity on video in February, which involved a hose dumping what he suspected was sewage into a drainage ditch.
“Fresh water that smells like (expletive),” said the resident, while recording the activity.
The resident then proceeded to follow a hose which was dumping the substance into a stream to its source, a giant metal shipping container.
“Show you right where it connects to which is this septic tank, he’s polluting the water,” said the resident.
A complaint and cease and desist order has been issued to Highfield, from the Bureau of Water Pollution Control with the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. In it, the state says that Highfield installed an illegal, above ground tank to hold sewage from most of the 38 homes in the community.
Investigators found that the area was saturated, meaning that sewage was pumped into the tank, which was not meant to hold fluids.
“Whenever you’re dealing with raw sewage, you’re always dealing with a human health issue, so you’re dealing with concerns with public health exposure to public pathogens and bacteria,” said Joe Maez, Bureau of Water Pollution Control Engineer.
Other residents of Crystal Peak say that Highfield dumped sewage on a regular basis, but Highfield, via phone, said that the dumping has only happened once.
According to the state, they can’t be sure that’s the case.
While the video only shows the one alleged violation, the state is uncertain of how much sewage was actually disposed of, and for how long.
That unknown has neighbors who are located downstream very concerned.
“Kind of disappointing. It’s really gross that somebody would do that out here,” said Dirk Maxwell.
Maez says that the bureau has ordered Highfield to stop pumping sewage into the ground, dismantle the storage tank and clean up the ground.
“We’re working with the mobile home park manager to make sure the area is basically cordoned off from public access. We’re disinfecting the spill site with in this case lime to kill all the pathogens,” said Maez.
Highfield faces stiff fines if he does not rectify the situation, and come up with a plan to disconnect the tank. If he doesn’t do so by March 17th, he faces a $25,000 per day fine. ##
(Image credits are as shown above.)
Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News, MHProNews
