July 19, 2001

It will take more than chlorine to treat the problems at Milwaukee's Water Works. From mislabeled microbiological materials to snakes in the laboratory, the agency entrusted with purifying and delivering water to 850,000 people in Milwaukee and 14 outlying communities is a loose municipal cannon, documents obtained through the state's public records law suggest.

For example, although Milwaukee's Water Works is known for the largest documented waterborne disease outbreak in U.S. history, as recently as January 2000 a microbiologist refused to provide written documentation "regarding ... errors and mistakes in media preparation, after directed to do so" by a supervisor. 

"... [E]rrors and mistakes ... were being made more and more frequently," a Jan. 20, 2000 memo to Water Works Superintendent Carrie M. Lewis says. But the person responsible only made verbal reports of the incidents, and when told to write a report, "he said that he would not do that."

A report based on a $28,000 city-funded investigation of conditions at Milwaukee's Water Works is full of inaccuracies, twists the truth, omits information and was tailored to protect the government in a lawsuit rather than correctly present facts, an employee charges. But it damns management nonetheless. Story