05:18 PM PST on Friday, February 10, 2006

By CHRIS INGALLS / KING 5 News

GRAYLAND, Wash. - For years, public officials in this coastal town south of Westport have been falsifying drinking water test results in the town of Grayland, potentially endangering the health of water customers.

A criminal investigation has been launched. Several public officials have already admitted they've been lying to state regulators.

KING

Some in the water district office apparently falsified addresses to make it look like they came from various distribution points.

For decades, ratepayers in Grayland have been getting some of the cheapest water in the state. Recently they found out why.

At times, water is a menace in the coastal community of Grayland - from Pacific storms that make landfall, to the unrelenting surf that churns ashore.

But most residents here never knew that water's greatest threat came from their faucets.

The customers of Grays Harbor County Water District #1 are learning that their drinking water may have been no safer than the ditch water used to irrigate the small town's lush cranberry fields.

They found out because Chuck Chafin, the town's certified water operator, made a confession to state regulators a few months ago.

For perhaps a long as 20 years, the water district has been illegally collecting water samples in the pump house - right above the well - instead of testing down the pipeline at faucets and other outlets as required by state law.

The state office of drinking water requires and monitors these downline tests because breaks in the pipeline can allow dangerous bacteria into the drinking water.

"This is very serious. People who take on this aspect of the public trust need to take their responsibility seriously," said Leslie Thorpe, a spokesperson for the state Office of Drinking Water.

Although Chafin collected samples at the well, he says others in the water district office falsified addresses to make it look like they came from various distribution points.

"It was wrong, but I was into something I couldn't stop. It was bigger than me," Chaffin said. "When I brought it to the attention of my superiors the basic answer was we'll find somebody else to do your job, no big deal."

Chafin says orders came from long-time water commissioner Arnold Pertulla who admitted as much to me, saying he was trying to spare ratepayers from the expense of constant testing.

In 2000 in the community of Walkterton in Ontario, Canada, seven people were killed and thousands injured when water operators failed to report e-coli contamination.

While there's no known sickness in Grayland, one new water commissioner said she can only wonder.

"It could be someone got sick and we just don't know," Commissioner Sharon Simmons said.

Since the story broke, Commissioner Pertulla has resigned and is now under investigation by the sheriff's department.  Chafin, the whistleblower, has been suspended.

The water district itself has been fined $30,000 by the state Department of Health.

The health department says months of tests show the water is currently safe to drink, about the only good news the ratepayers get out of all this.

The new water district commissioners say the water system is in disrepair and will require about $1.5 million in improvements over the next few years.