Worker peed in bottle used to test town’s water samples, Pennsylvania police say

An employee at a wastewater management facility admitted to peeing in a test bottle, knowing it’d misconstrue the results of a water sample test, according to authorities in Pennsylvania. Now more than a year later, that worker has been charged.

The Ephrata Borough Wastewater Management contacted police on July 22, 2021 — about a month after the employee had done so, according to a Nov. 10 news release. Staff were concerned about “possible contamination.”

The results in question were so high that officials believed it only could have occurred if someone had tampered with a test bottle in the automatic sample test machine, according to the Ephrata Police Department.

Samples were sent to a laboratory with Pennsylvania State Police, and officials said a test indicated urine was present.

“The test bottles are cleaned and there should be no presence of urine,” police said.

In an interview with police, a 57-year-old employee admitted to urinating in the bottle used for testing on June 29, 2021, according to the news release.

The worker, of Manheim, was charged with criminal mischief on Nov. 4. He is also no longer employed by the Borough of Ephrata.

“The quality of our wastewater discharge is a crucial element of responsible wastewater treatment,” interim borough manager Nancy Harris said in a statement. “It is important for our customers to know that the actual wastewater product was not contaminated, only the sample.”

She said the town has “closely monitored” the samples since the incident and will continue doing so.

“We are confident that this was an isolated incident and we commend the staff for their efforts to discover, report and rectify the problem,” Harris wrote.

Ephrata is about 70 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

This story was originally published November 15, 2022 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Worker peed in bottle used to test town’s water samples, Pennsylvania police say."