Copper Thieves Ransack Waste Facility For $35,000

Vandals ransacked a wastewater plant in the small city of Attleboro, MA, this month, leaving a mess of oil contamination in their wake.

“The city is stuck with a $35,000 cleanup bill after apparent copper thieves cut down a utility pole and broke open three electrical transformers, causing oil to contaminate a small section of ground at the old wastewater treatment plant off Pond Street North,” The Sun Chronicle reported.

The contaminated site is 10 feet by 10 feet and 2 feet deep. Cleanup costs include “$18,000 for excavation and disposal, $3,000 for soil analysis and $14,000 for an environmental professional to supervise removal of the contaminated dirt which requires special handling and disposal,” the report said.

National Grid workers discovered the contamination.

They “went to the old plant to remove a different transformer that contained polychlorinated biphenyl, commonly called PCB. None of the three transformers that leaked oil contained PCB,’” the report said. The U.S. EPA says PCBs are probable human carcinogens.

Metal theft is not a new phenomenon in the water industry. For instance, last year in Delaware, two men “broke into a storage trailer at United Water near Newport and stole $800 worth of scrap water meters," Delaware Online reported, citing state police.

And the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) implemented new policies last year to prevent theft. The decision came after an employee, who was part of the meter-reading team, stole metal from the utility in a scheme that his wife helped him execute, according to KSAT.

Anne Hayden, spokeswoman for SAWS, stressed that the utility is not alone in facing this problem. "Unfortunately, this is a situation, not only here in San Antonio and not just with SAWS, but across the country,” she said, per the report. "With the metals market right now, there's a problem with theft of brass and copper, anything that can be resold."

In some places, policymakers are trying to protect water utilities from metal theft. Ohio is implementing new rules this year to prevent businesses from getting targeted.

Ohio scrap metal dealers are “required to check an electronic list of previous offenders as part of new rules designed to thwart scrap metal theft. In addition to a ‘do not buy’ list, new rules for dealers that went into effect [last year] also include a daily transaction database of purchases,” The Newark Advocate reported.

http://www.wateronline.com/doc/copper-thieves-ransack-waste-facility-for-0001