Sewage Plant Probe May Widen : Escondido Whistle-Blower Says FBI Meeting Is Planned

Federal authorities are making inquiries into allegations that a laboratory supervisor at Escondido’s sewage processing plant altered key testing data on the quality of treated waste water during a six-week period earlier this year.

An agent with the FBI is scheduled today to interview a former plant employee who released documents depicting the adjusted data, which made it appear the potency of sewage leaving the plant was lower than it might actually have been.

In addition, officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which monitors the performance of treatment plants along with the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, obtained documents containing the suspect data and questioned local officials about the case late last week, according to David Barker, a senior engineer with the regional board.

David Wilma, the agent in charge of the EPA’s criminal investigations branch in San Francisco, said he could “neither confirm nor deny” that the agency had launched an investigation into the allegations against lab supervisor Myung J. Kim.

However, Wilma, whose two-agent office is responsible for criminal enforcement against environmental violators in four states, said he was “very interested” in the Escondido case.

“Here at EPA, our regulators can only do their job with the data they’re given by the plants,” Wilma said. “If they’re given false data then they can’t determine whether there’s a water quality problem and consequently they can’t protect people or the environment.”

Meanwhile, Scott Rhoads, a former lab technician at the plant who provided The Times with documents on the altered test data, said a special agent from the FBI made an appointment with him to discuss the matter today.

FBI spokesman Gary Laturno would neither confirm nor deny the existence of any investigation by that agency.

Typically, results of both EPA and FBI investigations are forwarded to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for possible prosecution. Charles S. Crandall, the assistant U.S. attorney in San Diego who handles environmental matters, declined to speculate on whether his office would take on the Escondido case.

According to the documents provided by Rhoads, Kim in January began adjusting results of the so-called BOD test, which measures the level of oxygen consumed by microorganisms used in the process of digesting waste material present in sewage.

The BOD screening is a key indicator of the purity of treated waste water. Results of the tests are included on monthly reports sent to the Water Quality Control Board and the EPA. Under Escondido’s operating permit, the plant must maintain certain standards set by the two agencies. If limits on BOD and other pollutants are exceeded, the facility can face fines.

In January, the BOD level at the plant, which discharges 11 million gallons of sewage into the ocean off Cardiff each day, began to soar, for reasons still unknown. In an interview last month, Kim said his “mind was boggled” by the jump in BOD levels. He tested numerous explanations, but failed to solve the mystery.

So, based on data from other tests that usually correlate with the BOD measurement, Kim said he assumed the high numbers were in error. Using a combination of mathematical formulas, Kim said he computed new numbers and entered those on the monitoring reports forwarded to the regulatory agencies.

Kim, who said he intended eventually to report the BOD irregularities to the regional board, defended his methods as within his discretion and based on “my best judgment.” Escondido City Manager Vernon Hazen, who was unaware of the high BOD readings, called Kim’s practices “an honest error.”

Regional board officials, however, said they had never seen a similar practice employed at treatment plants. After reviewing the documents, they said Kim appeared to have violated the federal Clean Water Act by failing to fully and accurately report all the data gathered during testing.

On Monday, Barker and three other regional board officials met with Kim, who had been on vacation overseas, to discuss the allegations. According to Barker, Kim explained his rationale in changing the numbers, “and we explained our position that the numbers he reported were not legally correct.”

Barker said the board’s next step will be to decide what course of action to take against the plant.

“We could do nothing, write a letter telling the city to report the numbers correctly in the future, or issue a complaint and impose some monetary penalty on the city,” Barker said, noting that a decision would be made by the end of the month.

George Lohnes, Escondido’s utilities superintendent and Kim’s supervisor, said he expects the regional board to fine the city.

“They contend--and we agree--that there was, technically, a violation here,” Lohnes said. “Dr. Kim has a logical argument for what he did and I can’t fault him. But you can’t change the rules the regional board goes by, no matter how sound your logic is.”

The EPA’s Wilma, who has seen similar cases in the past, said the Escondido episode illustrates the weaknesses of the voluntary monitoring program under which sewage treatment plants operate. Under their permits, dischargers operate within certain parameters and are required to notify state and federal regulators if any irregularities occur. On-site inspections are rare.

“It’s very much the honor system, and just like with income taxes, people sometimes bend the rules,” Wilma said. “We’ve had situations where false data was submitted just because (plant operators) were too lazy to pull samples or didn’t want to spend the money.

“Neither the EPA nor the regional board has the resources to have people looking over these people’s shoulders. Sometimes you get one who tries to defeat the regulatory system.”

Wilma, who said Southern California cases involving the Clean Water Act and toxic wastes are his “top priority,” also noted that abnormally high BOD readings pose a particularly serious threat to water quality.

“You get a lot more people hitting emergency rooms with that kind of poisoning than with toxic waste poisoning,” Wilma said. “Fecal coliform is not very glamorous but anybody in public health will tell you it’s a big problem.”

According to Wilma, Kim could face penalties under both federal criminal statutes regulating false statements and the Clean Water Act of 1972. The act permits fines of $100,000 for each day of violation and up to 6 months imprisonment.