Win Ellen's 12 Days of Giveaways!

my name is jimmy groh and im reaching out for help.i lost my job for putting a stop to my old boss from dumping raw sewer into the white river,the townboard fired me because it was an embarresment to them when i got this brought into the publics eye.my old boss was for years just dumping raw sewer into the river and when i stood up to them and said i was not going to allow this to happen anymore well they just fired me,In the Marine Corps, I was taught to protect America against enemies,and dumping this untreated sewage into the river is an enemie to the town,the state,the country.now im about to lose everything i have and it is not fair to me and it sure is not fair to my family, and my kids should not have to suffer because thier daddy tryed to do the right thing,i have tryed everywhere to get help and no luck, but i know one thing, im to the end of my rope.if i dont get some help im gonna lose it all and that wont be good......im asking you because i know you truely care about people and our rivers. here is the story as seen in the newspaper and on the wthr 13 news. 13 Investigates uncovers a gruesome find: high levels of E.Coli bacteria released directly into a major Indiana waterway.
Even more disturbing is what appears to be a cover-up, including falsified records in the town where it happened.

Indiana's top environmentalists are now calling for a criminal investigation.

The pictures and what's in them are enough to make you sick, and what happened in the Owen County town of Spencer is enough to make you mad.

"It's everywhere, everywhere you go down there where it discharges. You can't clean that up," said Jimmy Groh, a former Spencer Wastewater treatment facility worker, as he pointed out an overflow of sludge.

Groh then clicked on another image.

"This is actually, raw, raw sewage coming from the town, and this is the final water going out, and you can't hardly tell the difference," he Groh said showing two water samples.

But containers of murky water contain raw sewage even though one sample reportedly went through the cleaning process at the Spencer waste water treatment plant.

13 Investigates has learned that for years, polluted water just like the murky sample flowed into White River, and right along with it, E.Coli, a nasty bacteria.

What's worse, the wastewater is coming directly from the water treatment plant that's supposed to stop it.

How could this happen?

For years the water treatment plant sent bogus pollution records to the state.

"The do***ents were falsified," revealed Groh, who blew the whistle on the improper discharge.

"Wow! I was just...I couldn't believe that," said Groh, who's collected dozens of disturbing examples of potential water pollution from the plant.

He says he was fired from his maintenance job at the Spencer Water Treatment facility after he took the pictures of the sludge flowing into the river, and showed them separately to both the Spencer Town Board President and an inspector with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

"This is the discharge, where it comes from at the sewer plant. It comes down underground across the field to right here and this is where it discharges out to the river," explained Groh.

The edges of the canal where the water flows are now lined with black slimy sludge. Groh's pictures were the state's first clue that something was terribly wrong. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management went to the site to investigate and pulled hundreds of records.

"It raised concerns. Anytime you see pictures that were showing environmental damage or potential environmental damage, we take it seriously," said Bruno Pigott, the Assistant Commissioner at the Department of Environmental Management.

Falsified reports

Pigott confirms something sinister had been taking place at the Spencer Water Treatment facility for at least three years.

He showed 13 Investigates a stack of test results that reveal a history of falsified records. The records were sent to the state by the Spencer water treatment plant to fudge the levels of E.Coli released into the river by the plant.

"We have found enormous discrepancies," added Pigott.

Samples of processed wastewater from Spencer were sent to the Dillman laboratories in Bloomington. The certified test results were sent back to Spencer. But before those results were sent to state offices in Indianapolis, they were altered, most of the time drastically reduced.

The real numbers show E.Coli levels routinely ten times higher than what was reported from Spencer.

During the time in question, lab results show Spencer's E.Coli levels were often over the limits and in some cases, off the charts.

"A lot of the time I would see the paper come back from Dillman and it would say "TNC." What the heck is "TNC?" "TNC" means too numerous to count," Groh told 13 Investigates.

So who was responsible for falsifying the numbers sent to the state, to cover up conditions like this?

IDEM blames Shelley Edwards.

Edwards won awards for years of working as a "weather spotter" while working as Spencer's wastewater treatment plant Superintendent for 25 years.

"He may tell you that he did not falsify the data, but we have three years of data...and his signature. It's easy to say someone was falsifying data. He's the one that signed off on it being accurate," said Pigott.

That data now has ramifications that go well beyond the town of Spencer.

"The water program throughout the nation depends on the information submitted...to determine if water quality is being protected or not. If we can't rely on it, how can the citizens of the State of Indiana rely on the fact that this water that's being discharged from this facility is clean and safe?" added Pigott as he talked about the seriousness of the situation.

13 Investigates went in search of Shelley Edwards, to his home and his job, before finally reaching him by phone. After identifying himself as Edwards, he told 13 Investigates:

"Actually I didn't falsify any records. There was some altered records that nobody was able to prove who did what and that's all I can tell you at this time," he said, denying he had done anything wrong.

A town newspaper article says Edwards resigned from his post and mentions nothing of falsified records.

"I am the one who signs off on it, I am the responsible charge," Edwards acknowledged, but said, "The numbers that we seen, it wasn't hurting anything. Otherwise IDEM would have punished me for it and they didn't," he said.

Edwards says he quit to protect his health amid the scrutiny. But IDEM says he was stripped of his credentials for failing to consider the health of the environment by reporting false results.

"Decertification of his license means that man can never be a wastewater treatment plant operator. He cannot sign information that is submitted to us," Pigott said emphatically.

"Why weren't there environmental charges filed against this person?" questioned 13 Investigates.

That's when Pigott revealed charges are under consideration.

"We also referred this matter up to our criminal division for investigation," he said.

IDEM says the criminal investigation is pending.

Jimmy Groh wants a full prosecution for what he sees as a crime against his family, community and environment.

"I'm ticked I lost my job, and I'm not going to lie about that," Groh admitted, "But I'm really disgusted about this," he said pointing to pictures of contamination. "The river's going to be worthless if everybody does this," he said.

Over the last three years, the state has taken action against six other wastewater superintendents for falsifying data. Some of them prosecuted by the EPA for violating the clean water act.

Neither the town president nor the town attorney would go on camera. i can also give you a link to the news video if you want to watch the news report, here it is."http://www.wthr.com/story/19113049/investigation-shows-sp..." so please let me know what you think, im an Marine corps vet and father of 3 and i am a 100% american and a believer in the truth and in honesty.I have worked all my life to get everything we have and now because i stood up and said no to these people doing this to our rivers i am about to lose everything.All i done was tryed to protect our rivers and the people of my community and the wildlife,i should not have to suffer so bad and have my family suffer so bad because of bad people like this and trying to do the right thing.There is a severe irony in the Town doing that. All of the major cities in Indiana are shelling out hundreds of millions of dollars each so raw sewage does not mix with storm water, polluting our rivers and streams.

Indianapolis is paying $444 million. Ft. Wayne $250 million. Evansville $227 million. South Bend $509 million. And finally, in Mishawaka where I live, the City is shelling out $140 million to protect the water from sewage.

With billions being poured into Clean Water Act protections in Indiana, the idea that small towns could just dump raw sewage into the rivers is ridiculous. Im an American patriot who served in the Marine Corps, knows that fouling the waters of America is an attack on our way of life.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. jimmy groh 812-219-1017