VALLEY
PATRIOT EXCLUSIVE!
City of Lawrence fined $5,750 for failing
to test drinking water supply in May and
August of 2008
TOM DUGGAN
Documents obtained by The
Valley Patriot this week reveal that in
May and August of 2008, operators at the
City of Lawrence’s new $26 million
water treatment facility failed to test
the city’s drinking water for a
chemical called chlorite, as mandated by
state law. State law requires that the
city test for the chemical each month
under the Clean Water Act.
Within two days of being notified of the
fine, City Attorney Charles Boddy called
for an “investigation into who is
responsible for these continuing
violations.”
Boddy also called for disciplinary action
against any city employee responsible for
the failure to comply with state mandated
water testing, demanding that “action
must be taken to prevent any further
violations.” (Memo from City Attorney
Charlie Boddy)
The order against the city by MassDEP
dated July10, 2008states: “[The city
of Lawrence] reported that it failed to
collect the three sample distribution set
for chlorite required for the month on
May, ad required by [state law]…For
the month of August 2008, [The City of
Lawrence] again failed to collect the
three sample distribution set for
chlorite as required by [state law].”
MassDEP Order
In addition to the $5,750.00 fine levied
against the city, MassDEP also ordered
the city to conduct three sample set
distribution sampling for the chemical
chlorite, and warned that if the city
fails to comply again, they will face a
penalty of $25,000 for every day the
tests aren’t done. The order also
and threatens additional civil penalties
and the possibility of imprisonment of up
to one year, for anyone involved in
failing to comply with the State’s
order.
This is not the first time the city has
been fined in the last 2 years by the
MassDEP. In October of 2007 the
state fined the city $39,500 for
inadequate security procedures,
noncompliance with the plant's
disinfecting process, violating sampling
protocols and inadequate turbidity
requirements. An investigation by state
officials revealed that "from April
4, 2007 through April 17, 2007 the new
plant was operated without any chlorine
dioxide or chlorite testing equipment and
the required daily samples for chlorine
dioxide and chlorite were not
taken," (Eagle Tribune story)
In February of 2008 The city and MassDEP
entered into a consent decree whereby
MassDEP would reduce the $39,500 fine to
$19,500. In return the city agreed to
beef up security at the plant, provide an
updated operations plan and make sure all
chlorine dioxide systems were working
properly.
In October of 2008, Lawrence Mayor
Michael Sullivan blamed DPW director
Frank McCann for what he called $493,000
in illegal work done a the water
treatment plant in violation of state
bidding laws. McCann was said to
authorize installation of fiber optic
wiring at the water treatment plant but
later denied knowing anything about it,
even though witnesses at the time said
that McCanna and Water Commissioner Bob
Fazio were present at the plant when some
of the work was being done.
In a memo written by Department of Public
Works Director Frank McCann (dated
January 6, 2009), McCann claims that the
failure to do the required monthly
testing of chlorite in May of 2008 was
due to a “misunderstanding of when
the chlorite samples were to be taken.”
(Frank McCann's memo)
McCann also claimed in his memo to Mayor
Mike Sullivan, Water Commissioner Bob
Fazio, and Budget and Finance Director
Mark Andrews that the lab technician
“thought that they were quarterly
samples (tests) thus not taken in May,
the second month of the quarter.”
McCann also says that at least one
contributing factor in the May testing
failure “was a learning curve for
the operator and the lab technician since
the operator was starting up tat system
for the first time in mid-April since
taking over the operations the previous
December.”
McCann blamed the failure to do mandated
testing the second time (in August, 2009)
was due to a breakdown of the very “chloride
dioxide system” the city promised to
adequately maintain in the consent degree
after the 2007 fine.
McCann says that part of the city’s
failure to comply with state law in the
August incident was due to “personnel
absence that month” but later admits
that the city’s chlorine dioxide
system was down that week “due to
mechanical failure and did not come back
on line for the remainder of August.”
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(C) copyright, Valley Patriot, Inc., 2009
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