The drugmaker violated the Clean Water Act with three chemical discharges in 2006, one of which killed more than 1,000 fish and forced Philadelphia to temporarily shut off drinking water intakes.

And so Merck will pay $10 million for systems to prevent future hazardous discharges at its sprawling facility in the suburb of West Point, and $9 million for other large-scale environmental protection projects, federal authorities said Thursday. Then, there’s combined penalties of nearly $1.6 million for the three spills into a body of water that’s the source of 40 percent of Philadelphia’s drinking water. Here’s the consent decree.

“Perhaps more than anything else, this settlement says to every company that discharges dangerous chemicals as part of its operations that it is accountable to the environment and the community,” US Attorney Pat Meehan says in a statement. “No one should have to wonder, when they walk into the kitchen for a glass of water, if what they are about to drink is going to make them or their children sick.”

The drugmaker released about 25 gallons of potassium thiocyanate into a wastewater treatment system, but the compound, which is used for making industrial chemicals, medicines and pesticides, turned toxic when it reacted with the chlorination system. Besides killing fish and causing problems with drinking water, the tate Department of Environmental Protection banned all recreational uses on the Wisshickon creek for nearly a month.

Two months later, in August 2006, Merck released a high-protein solution used to make vaccines into the sewage system and foam floated down stretches of the creek. And Merck also discharged cleaning agents that caused another foam discharge into the creek, Meehan said.

The US Environmental Protection Agency ssays Merck will restore part of the creek to improve water quality, create wetlands on a nearby 10-acre parcel, purchase technology that monitors fish activity to give the Philadelphia Water Department an early warning system, and make other improvements, the Associated Press writes.

Included in the total is a $4.5 million contribution from Merck that will go toward the purchase of a 96-acre land parcel adjacent to the creek that will have restricted use and open space easements in perpetuity. “Merck believes the settlement we reached is fair, and we are pleased that it includes important projects that will result in permanent benefits to our local environment,” spokesman Ian McConnell tells the Associated Press.