A former waste water treatment superintendent for the City of Hays pleaded guilty and was sentenced Monday for violating the federal Clean Water Act, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Charles L. Blair, 58, Hays, was sentenced to a year on federal probation and a $2,500 fine.

Blair pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of negligent discharge of a pollutant.

In his plea, he admitted that in February 2012 he negligently allowed for the discharge of effluent from the waste water treatment plant in Hays that contained an ammonia nitrogen level of 46.2 milligrams per liter. This level of ammonia nitrogen is in excess of both state and federal regulations.