It’s a common sight: mud streaming off the scraped-up earth where a new home, highway or shopping center will rise. If that mud reaches a stream or a lake, it’s probably illegal. Still, construction runoff is one of the most pervasive violations of the Clean Water Act. Muddy waters aren’t good for fish, but construction companies almost always get away with it.

Not this week. Four of the nation’s top homebuilders - including Centex Homes, Pulte Homes, KB Homes and Richmond American Homes - have agreed to pay $4.3 million in fines and to clean up their acts after a pattern of allowing mud, sand, industrial waste and other slime wash from construction sites into waterways, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday.

The enforcement action follows an investigation and inspections that showed a pattern of Clean Water Act violations in 34 states and the District of Columbia. The companies will have to improve their vigilance over muddy runoff at 2,202 sites across the nation, including 36 sites in Minnesota, most of them in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Scott and Washington counties.

“EPA requires that construction sites obtain permits and take simple, basic steps to prevent pollutants from contaminating storm water and harming our nation’s waterways,” said Granta Y. Nakayama, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Today’s settlement sets a new bar for the home building industry.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 6:09 pm and is filed under Businesses in hot water, Property problems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.