DENVER — A chemist with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) appears to have intentionally manipulated data, which altered the accuracy of thousands of water tests since 2020, Denver7 Investigates has learned.
On top of that, a third-party report determined the state learned of this data manipulation last December, but its response was delayed by communication breakdowns, a “culture of fear” within the agency and a reluctance to report issues, according to the report obtained by Denver7 Investigates.
To date, state leaders have not publicly announced any of these failures.
Denver7 Investigates first learned of this data manipulation through an informed source, who wished to remain anonymous, but was outraged at the state’s lack of transparency.
CDPHE tests water across the state for different contaminants, including the water that is provided to homes by different water districts and systems. It tests for metals, disinfection byproducts and radiochemical contaminants, among other things. According to CDPHE, 69 of the state's systems are impacted by this data manipulation.
The tests in question specifically deal with detection of specific metals such as copper, barium and chromium.
According to the report, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was notified of the data manipulation in early April — more than three months after it was discovered. Later that month, the EPA revoked some of CDPHE’s certifications for testing.
Information provided to Denver7 Investigates notes that the EPA was only notified after it came in for its regular accreditation process with the state.
The chemist involved with the manipulation was placed on administrative leave in February and submitted a formal resignation letter on May 31. The data issues were uncovered by another state employee.
The private company who wrote the report, Colorado-based Transformation Point LLC, titled its study a “root cause analysis,” and its conclusions followed interviews with 22 stakeholders in the department, which lasted more than 13 hours.
Some of the factors they found that contributed to the data manipulation included inadequate oversight, outdated equipment and technology, resource constraints and staffing issues, and communication and cultural challenges.
In some cases, the water districts whose water was tested were not notified for many months.
Through an open records request, Denver7 Investigates obtained one of the letters sent by CDPHE to one of the water districts.
It states that there was a “lapse in quality assurance with the laboratory’s analysis.” It concludes by noting that “the division will not use the following invalidated data.” And it refers to tests done as far back as 2020.
CDPHE declined Denver7's on-camera interview request with CDPHE Executive Director Jill Hunsaker Ryan.
Instead, a department spokesperson responded with an email that attempted to provide more information as “context.”
It stated, “At this time we do not have any evidence of acute public health risks. … The State Public Health Laboratory takes quality assurance very seriously. This incident has prompted us to provide additional staff training, and we have hired laboratory consultants to review quality assurance processes across the lab.”
The full email text below.
“In February, the State Public Health Laboratory discovered a quality control lapse affecting one of our water quality methods, method 200.7, which tests for metals and trace elements, including copper, barium, and chromium. Our latest information shows that this affected primarily smaller systems that represent approximately 3% of Colorado’s drinking water systems. After the managing chemist discovered anomalies in test results, we removed the acting chemist from all laboratory testing and began an investigation. Lab supervisors took the time to re-analyze an extremely large amount of data, which led to the discovery of an intentional disregard of protocol by the acting chemist. After we notified the EPA, they revoked the lab’s certification for this method. In order to maintain service, CDPHE is contracting with certified commercial labs to perform these tests.
In August, the EPA prematurely revoked other methods performed by the chemist, prior to the completion of a third-party audit. CDPHE has no current information that demonstrates similar intentional disregard of protocols with the other revoked methods. We have appealed this decision to the EPA, as we wait for third-party data analysis results.
We are in the process of formally notifying and recalling data for the specific water systems, which are primarily smaller systems. At this time, we do not have any evidence of acute public health risks. This third-party investigation is expected to conclude next month.
The State Public Health Laboratory takes quality assurance very seriously. This incident has prompted us to provide additional staff training, and we have hired laboratory consultants to review quality assurance processes across the lab.”
