Colorado health department chemist should have been removed months before she was put on leave, CDPHE document says

DENVER — The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment chemistry supervisor realized there was a problem on December 29, 2023. The issue was that the supervisor believed a chemist had manipulated data for testing metals in drinking water. However, CDPHE did not inform the federal government until April.

It took even longer to inform Coloradans. When the issue was discovered, the "analyst should have been removed from testing duties," a CDPHE document sent to the Environmental Protection Agency states. The document is called an, "Internal Data Manipulation Root Cause," which was sent to the federal government on August 30, 2024.

Because of this situation, CDPHE has recalled 7,095 test results, according to a letter CDPHE sent to the EPA. The state explained the data manipulation as this to the EPA: "It was discovered that the chemist had been exporting instrument data text files and altering them." The state placed the chemist on administrative leave on February 12, 2024.

"The day Chemist A was placed on administrative leave, she tried to hide her USB drive containing the raw data instrument files from the Lab Director. This action from Chemist A demonstrates she knew her actions in changing data were wrong," the root cause investigation states. The EPA asked for the analysis and wanted it to include, "The reason(s) for the Laboratory's months-long delay in reporting data integrity issues to EPA, CDPHE's drinking water program, and impacted customers.

" In April, E.