Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. was charged about $78,000 for draining chlorinated water from an indoor pool into a nearby creek once a week for four decades, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported.
The discharged water, which found its way to the creek via the campus stormwater runoff system, has been seeping into the creek causing chlorine levels there to be 60 times the amount considered toxic to water life. Officials at Lewis and Clark said in a statement that they were surprised to learn of the water draining, immediately stopped the draining and began to install piping to drain the water into a sewer.