Kennewick Business Caught Dumping 4,000 Gallons of Sewage Near A School

According to court documents and reports from the City of Kennewick, as much as 2,000 gallons of raw sewage was spilled into the street and surrounding areas during a series of illegal dumps by a septic pumping and portable toilet company.

New information has been released concerning Sunshine Portable Toilet's alleged dumping of 4,000 gallons of raw sewage last October on Plaza Way in Kennewick.

Owner John Liniger has been charged with illegal dumping and given a $50,000 fine. Data from city officials estimate that a series of four illegal dumps occurred between Oct. 7 and 19. About half of the raw waste was discharged on the street or flowed into other undeveloped areas on Plaza Way near Hildebrand, near Southridge High School.

City officials had to spend nearly $8,000 to clean and sanitize the sewer system and infrastructure from the illegal dumps.

Because of chemicals in the sewage (especially the strong blue liquid chemicals), Kennewick was required to notify the Environmental Protection Agency, that is now conducting an investigation into the dumping.

The crime was captured on night-vision, motion-activated cameras as part of a surveillance operation set up by the city and the EPA with numerous photos reportedly showing a Sunshine vehicle engaged in the illegal pumping of sewage down the manhole pipes.