Negligent DEP Water Monitor Gets Probation

By RICHARD STEIER

A former city Environmental Protection employee who failed to properly check water quality and then made false entries to cover it up has been sentenced to two years' probation by a Federal judge.

One condition of the probation for Daniel Storms is that he not seek any position in which public health or safety are at stake.

'An Awful Breach'

During the Dec. 11 sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Charles L. Brieant called Mr. Storms's conduct "an awful breach of duty. I don't know how you could have done this."

Mr. Storms had pleaded guilty in September to making false entries in a Department of Environmental Protection log book covering the turbidity, or cloudiness, of city drinking water at the Catskill Lower Effluent Chamber.

On Feb. 9, according to his plea, he did not perform all of the processes needed to properly monitor turbidity but then falsified numerical results for the work he hadn't done.

U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia noted that although turbidity itself has no health effects, it can interfere with water disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which requires that DEP monitor turbidity, has also found that increased turbidity levels can lead to potentially harmful disinfection byproducts and is a sign of disease-causing organisms.