HOW BAD IS BAD?: AN ANALYSIS OF FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION PROSECUTION CASES PERTAINING TO THE CLEAN WATER ACT

The Clean Water Act (CWA) protects the nation's waters from pollution. The purpose of this study is to compile a database of all criminal CWA cases, from October 1982 to June 2019, which includes pleas, fines, locations, water bodies, pollutants, and pollutant amounts. The database was compiled by reviewing the case summaries provided by the EPA Summary of Criminal Prosecutions tool to analyze all CWA cases (n=805). Information collected included environmental and criminal aspects such as pollutants, industry, and fines. This study has found that metal, wastewater treatment, and energy industries are the top three polluters in examined CWA cases, while California, Louisiana, and Ohio are the three states with most cases. The database has been used to assess relative harm of the different violations of the CWA. Preliminary categories for the relative harm scale are pollutant amounts, pollutant time in the environment, deaths, toxicity levels, and the size of the affected area.