CertainTeed’s vinyl siding plant in Westlake, Louisiana, will pay civil penalties of $365,500 for violating the Safe Drinking Water Act and failing to provide employees with a safe source of drinking water.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regional office in Dallas said the settlement is the largest civil penalty of its kind in state history.

EPA收取该公司未能在Westlake植物的Certainteed公共水系统的Louisiana Healto（LDH）的检查中未纠正“重大缺陷”。在宾夕法尼亚联邦地区法院向EPA收取，该公司花了几年来纠正问题，according to an EPA news release.

“尽管欧盟环保署和路易斯安那州的既有执法努力，包括LDH和EPA的联合检验，以及EPA行政秩序，确定了四年来解决调查中确定的重大缺陷，”该机构说。

Plastic Newsreported that the problems involved the supply of drinking water for the plant’s 43 employees. Three wells served the site, but the one earmarked as the source of potable water for five buildings and emergency wash stations was damaged by Hurricane Rita in 2005. The other two wells were not considered potable and were used instead to fill fire suppression tanks and cooling towers.

After the hurricane, the plant took water from the fire suppression system and disinfected it with chlorine for use by employees. But the water system had no filtration and no means or preventing the flow of water back to the fire suppression system.

EPA表示，违规行为包括未能提供经批准的饮用水和未能监测和测试可能导致健康问题的污染物的水。

美国州在一份声明中表示,它已经drilled a new well for drinking water and taken steps to ensure compliance with the Safe Water Drinking Act, Plastic News said. “The safety of its employees, the environment and the communities it serves is a top priority for CertainTeed,” the statement said.

The Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, company produces a variety of building products. It is a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, a French conglomerate.

CertainTeed announced in 2011that the plant had earned the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 certification recognizing its “ongoing commitment to environmental responsibility.” The plant was diverting material from waste streams by recycling cardboard, metal, electronic scrap, oil and other products, while reporting a 70% reduction in water use.

In order to win certification, CertainTeed developed an environmental management system that “underwent rigorous evaluations through a third party review,” the company said at the time.