Drinking water lab tester charged with backdating samples

PITTSFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - The director of a drinking water testing lab in Berkshire County has been arraigned on criminal charges for allegedly backdating samples to cover-up misconduct.

Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office announced William Enser, Jr. of Lee has been charged with 15 counts of knowingly falsifying reports submitted to the Department of Environmental Protection, and 15 counts of willfully making false reports to the Mass DEP. He pleaded not guilty during his arraignment Wednesday at Berkshire Superior Court in Pittsfield.

Enser was the director of Berkshire Enviro-Labs, Inc. in Lee; a company that provided drinking water testing to public and private water systems across western Massachusetts.

According to Coakley’s office, Enser allegedly falsified the dates of drinking water samples, in order to make it appear that analyses on the samples had been done in the required holding time, even though that was not the case. The samples in question were to be tested for nitrates and nitrites, which can contaminate drinking water.

These types of samples must be tested within 48 hours time in order for their results to be considered reliable.