iAfter a four-day trial in May 2013, a Superior Court judge found Henry Papuga guilty of tampering with drinking water samples and making false statements. He was sentenced to one year in jail, suspended for five years, and 250 hours of community service. Papuga was the manager of the Milford Water Company.
The incident arose from efforts in August 2008 to terminate a boil-water order issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) due to the presence of E. coli in the public water system serving Milford. To ensure “clean” results, Papuga tampered with six drinking water samples by adding chlorine and falsely certified the integrity of the samples on the chain-of-custody form submitted to the lab. When the lab tested the samples, the samples apparently turned unexpected colors. In order to determine why this occurred, the lab tested the samples for chlorine. The chlorine levels were 700 times the acceptable level for drinking water. The lab contacted MassDEP, which launched an investigation, ultimately resulting in this conviction.
