County inspector general: Riviera Beach staff failed to report water contamination on at least 130 occasions

John Kerry, Palm Beach County inspector general, told the City of Riviera Beach Utility Special District board that his office’s investigation found utility staff failed to report water-test results to the Florida Department of Health as required and altered at least two results so contaminated wells appeared clean.

Stuart Robinson, director of investigations for the inspector general’s office, told the board the inquiry reviewed thousands of documents, hundreds of hours of interviews and test results from the city and the district’s contracted laboratory, CAPSAR Laboratory. Robinson said the office compared lab results with the test results sent to the Department of Health and found “on over a 130 occasions” the city did not submit results indicating total coliform contamination and on two occasions results were altered. He said two instances involved E. coli that were not reported within the rules’ required timeframes.

The report, presented as Palm Beach County Office of Inspector General Report 2024-0006 (November 2024), focused on whether individuals responsible for reporting followed Department of Health rules. Kerry said the…