May 15, 2009 10:54 am US/Central
Ind. Employees May Have Falsified Water Tests
Lake Co. Ind. Drinking Water Test Results 'Highly Unusual'
MERRILLVILLE, Ind. (Post-Tribune) ―
If two employees of the Lake County (Ind.) Health Department falsified drinking water tests, they could face criminal prosecution.
County officials say the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is investigating allegations of falsification and may consider prosecution.
"I think the EPA and the state are looking into all the potential problems. I don't know if they're looking criminally, but they probably are," said Assistant Lake County Attorney Joe Irak, adding the county is not planning prosecution. "We're not doing anything with them. That's what we turned over to all the other agencies to take care of."
EPA will neither confirm nor deny it is investigating. Indiana State Department of Health investigated the county laboratory on Feb. 19, spokeswoman Jennifer Dunlap said. The agency regulates laboratories, but can't prosecute.
The county laboratory tested water for 62 places in Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Jasper and Newton counties. Among them were Griffith Water Department, Winfield Elementary School in Crown Point; Deep River County Park in Hobart, Oak Ridge Prairie County Park in Griffith and several churches.
Public water systems are required to test their drinking water under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
County officials reported suspicious-looking reports to IDEM in February.
"We didn't report it saying these records are falsified. We reported saying some of these reports looked unusual," Irak said.
"For instance, let's say you have a range from 1 to 10. ... If it's 2 all the time, you'd ask, 'How can it possibly be 2 all the time?' It just didn't appear it could be what was reflected in the records. I can't tell you it was or wasn't (falsified). We're not lab technicians, but it'd be highly unusual it'd be 2 every time I tested."
Irak said there shouldn't be a problem with drinking water safety at the facilities whose water was tested at Lake County's laboratory because the facilities now use other labs.
"If you were going to have any problems it would be in February," he said.
Even if water tests were falsified, that does not mean the water was unsafe to drink.
(CBS 2 and the Post-Tribune are news partners covering stories in the communities of northwest Indiana. Send story tips to tips@cbs2chicago.com. (© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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