Water Treatment Facility Pres. Charged With Falsifying Samples

HOLLISTON, MA — The president of a private wastewater treatment company and an engineering company in Fitchburg has been indicted on dozens of charges in connection with falsifying wastewater samples and test results at condominium facilities in Dover, Holliston, and Lunenburg, Attorney General Maura Healey announced on Friday.

Kent Oldfield, age 52, of Fitchburg, the president of SRA Inc. and New England Engineering Group, LLC, was indicted today by a Statewide Grand Jury on charges of Knowingly Tampering with Wastewater Test Methods (six counts) and Knowingly Making False Reports to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) (52 counts).

“The public relies on certified operators like the defendant to ensure that harmful pollutants are removed from wastewater discharged directly into the ground in our communities,” said AG Healey in a statement. “Those who falsify these reports, which can have significant public health and environmental consequences, are violating the law.”

"Wastewater has a direct impact on groundwater, a valuable natural resource. For that reason, wastewater must be treated to meet strict environmental standards,” said MassDEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg in a statement. “We rely on certified operators to test discharge water, factually report their findings to us, and ensure that wastewater is properly treated before it is discharged. Most operators do it right, but we will enforce on those that do not. "

Oldfield is expected to be arraigned in Norfolk, Worcester, and Middlesex Superior Courts at later dates.

Authorities allege that in July and August 2014, Oldfield submitted to a laboratory for testing, and later reported to MassDEP, samples from two wastewater treatment facilities he had been hired to operate, said the press release. Those samples should have been, but were not, taken from each facility’s stream of treated wastewater.

The investigation also revealed that, on dozens of occasions between March 2013 and April 2015, Oldfield allegedly falsified wastewater sampling results from three condominium facilities in reports to MassDEP in order to cover up permit violations at those facilities.

Information via Attorney General Maura Healey's office

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