Wappingers Falls, NY – An employee of the City of New York Department of Environmental Protection was arraigned in White Plains federal court on felony charges of making false entries in DEP records relating to monitoring drinking water at the Catskills reservoir system.
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Nicholas Miritello, 44, of Wappingers Falls was supposed to monitor water for turbidity at the DEP Catskill Lower Effluent Chamber including taking a series of readings and analyzing water samples.
Miritello was charged with making false entries in the log book purporting to have been logged after he conducted the tests. The allegations claim he did not conduct those tests.
While EPA has found that although turbidity itself has no health effects, it can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth.
EPA has also found that turbidity may indicate the presence of disease-causing organisms, including bacteria, viruses, and parasites, and that increased turbidity levels can contribute to the development of certain potentially harmful disinfection byproducts.
If convicted, Miritello faces up to five years in prison on each count. [Mid-Hudson News]