Isn’t it great living in a police state where the most trivial offences become federal crimes which you can be jailed for the rest of your life!
The Federal law referred to on that sign, 42 USC section 300(i), is the Safe Drinking Water Act. This law was originally passed in 1974 and amended in 1986 and again in 1996.
The most recent amendments - including section 300(i) - date from 1996 and thus predate the PATRIOT Act by five years.
See
http://www.gravical.com/components/us-code/section.php/42.733.html http://www.epa.gov/safewater/wsg/wsg_68.pdf http://www.epa.gov/safewater/sdwa/text.html
