A Massachusetts bottler of Pepsi products has agreed to pay nearly $500,000 toward a regional water restoration project and $100,000 in costs to the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) to settle allegations that its plant polluted nearby waterways with harmful discharge and runoff.
The proposed Pepsi CLF Pollution settlement, filed Monday in Massachusetts federal court, comes after a year-long legal battle between Patriot Beverages LLC and its parent company CPF Inc. and the environmental advocacy group.
While the companies did not admit wrongdoing, the deal requires Patriot and CPF to upgrade their pollution control systems, enhance monitoring and reporting protocols, and comply with stringent water quality standards. PepsiCo Inc. itself is not a party to the litigation.
CLF’s Pollution Allegations
The CLF sued the Littleton-based bottler last year, accusing it of violating the Clean Water Act by failing to properly monitor and control wastewater and stormwater from its bottling facility.
According to the lawsuit, those failures allowed phosphorus, aluminum, suspended solids, and other pollutants to reach levels up to 900% higher than legal limits in local waterways — a claim Patriot continues to dispute.
The CLF further alleged that Patriot violated the terms of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and ignored prior warnings, prompting the group to file suit.
Under the Clean Water Act, private citizens and organizations like CLF can pursue enforcement actions against alleged polluters.
