A New York man and the Old Dutch Mustard Co. have admitted guilt in federal court for discharging acidic water into the Souhegan River, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Jay McCormack and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
Charles Santich, 59, owner of Old Dutch Mustard Co., Inc., operating as Pilgrim Foods, Inc., entered a guilty plea for knowingly releasing pollutants without a permit. Sentencing is set by U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty for June 23, 2025.
The Clean Water Act prohibits pollutant discharge into U.S. navigable waters without a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. Old Dutch Mustard has faced several enforcement actions due to non-compliance dating back to the 1980s from agencies like the EPA and New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NH DES). Continuous monitoring of an Unnamed Brook flowing through their facility into the Souhegan River has been mandated by these agencies.
Santich leads Old Dutch Mustard, a New York corporation with operations in Greenville, New Hampshire, producing vinegar and mustard products that result in acidic wastewater. The facility also handles stormwater on-site where products are stored in large tanks. Both types of water are considered pollutants under the Clean Water Act but lacked necessary discharge permits.
In spring 2015, Santich employed an excavation company to install a pipe directing acidic wastewater towards the Souhegan River along an abandoned railroad bed—an area not covered by required environmental monitoring.
Employees were instructed by Santich to pump wastewater through this pipe discreetly. In May 2023, NH DES inspectors found low pH wastewater from Old Dutch Mustard entering the river via a ditch on their property. An August 2023 search warrant executed by EPA agents confirmed similar findings with liquid emissions from an underground pipe having a pH of 3.6.
The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division with support from NH DES and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office. Prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew T. Hunter and Trial Attorney Ronald A. Sarachan with assistance from EPA Senior Regional Criminal Enforcement Counsel Dianne G. Chabot.