WASHINGTON – Four of five wastewater treatment plants and chemical and industrial facilities in the United States pollute waterways beyond what their federal permits allow, according to government data compiled by an environmental group.

More than 90 percent of the plants and facilities in Ohio, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, Maine, West Virginia, Delaware, New York and Connecticut exceeded permit limits between 1999 and 2001, said Thursday’s report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. The average excess was 10 times what the permit called for, according to the report in which U.S. PIRG analyzed Environmental Protection Agency records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.