RIVIERIA BEACH, Fla. — The Palm Beach Office of Inspector General said it will release its report on the city’s response to a water pollution incident next week.

Water Treatment Plant Superintendent Melvin Pinkney resigned earlier this week. City officials did not say whether his resignation was voluntary or if he was terminated.

Riviera Beach Mayor Ronnie Felder asked the office for an investigation in February, after the city waited seven months to notify the public about faecal bacteria and E.coli be present in the city’s drinking water supply.

Initially, city staff said the Riviera Beach Special Utility District’s water treatment plant removed the contaminants. But emails WPTV obtained show the city didn’t notify the public because it believed it positive water sample tests were “false positives” after the city failed to perform proper testing procedures.

The city did its investigation into the incident, but the council members were not aware of the investigation. Officials have been waiting nine months for the investigation, which should include a response from the city, who was aware of the problem and when they were aware of it.

A health department investigation found the utility violated Florida law 13 times after detecting coliform and fecal bacteria from treated water delivered to customers. The utility, which is controlled by Riviera Beach and serves customers both in the city and in some surrounding areas, paid fines worth $80,842.60.

LOW BLAME THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT FOR THE PROBLEM

Ultimately, the fine went to the board fire Utility Director Michael Low, and to the resignation of Assistant Utility Director Stephen Doyle. Low accused the health department of creating a “misunderstanding” about the situation and continued to claim that E.coli did not enter the water in a letter obtained by WPTV.

“The unfortunate events that led to the noted violations have served to undermine the public’s trust and confidence in the quality of its water supply,” he wrote to the health department in April.

Low said the violations were the result of procedural errors by the Riviera Beach Utilities Special District. He said these created uncertainties for water quality rather than pollution.

“However, while the water quality uncertainty zone is limited to a collection of a few customers in the southwesternmost edge of the service area, the oft-repeated public comment is that e-Coli was widespread throughout the system,” Low wrote to the department in April. “This has resulted in growing claims of gastrointestinal illness, nausea and other ailments now being inappropriately attributed to the water supply.”

MORE PROBLEMS

Regardless of the report’s findings, WPTV found that various other issues within the utility over the past year likely don’t come up in this particular report.

This includes three other investigations related to violations of water quality laws and at least one other investigation by the Office of the Inspector General’s Office in Palm Beach County, which could result in fines worth millions in taxpayer dollars.