The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have laid criminal charges against two brothers involved in the contamination of the water supply in Walkerton Ontario in 2000. Charges were laid April 23, 2003 in Sarnia against Stan Koebel, former manager of the Walkerton Public Utilities Commission, and Frank Koebel, a Walkerton Public Utilities Commission foreman.
E Coli and Campylobacter jejuni bacteria in the water supply of the small south-western Ontario town of Walkerton resulted in the death of seven people and left hundreds sick in May 2000.
Judicial Inquiry
A judicial inquiry into the tragic water contamination in Walkerton released two reports in 2002 with hundreds of findings and recommendations. Among the findings of the inquiry were that
- proper chlorination of the Walkerton water supply could have prevented the water contamination
- Public Utilities Commision operators engaged in a host of improper operating practices
- Ontario provincial government cutbacks contributed to the tragedy.
Police Investigation
A massive police investigation into the Walkerton tragedy lasted for three years. More than 80 police investigators were assigned to the project over that time, statements were taken from 3900 people, and 44 Criminal Code search warrants were executed.
Charges Against Stan Koebel
The seven charges laid against Stan Koebel, former manager of the Walkerton Public utilities Commission, are:
- public endangerment for operating Well 7 without a chlorinator
- public endangerment for failing to monitor, sample and test the well water supplying the town of Walkerton
- forgery for falsifying the Daily Operating Sheet for Well 7 for May 2000
- using the false Daily Operating Sheet for Well 7 for May 2000 as if it were real
- breach of trust
- public endangerment for failing to notify the Ministry of the Environment of the adverse sample results as reported to him by a lab on May 17, 2000
- public endangerment for failing to notify the Medical Officer of Health and the Public Utilities Commission of those results.
Charges against Frank Koebel
Frank Koebel, former foreman of the Walkerton Public Utilities Commission, faces five charges:
- public endangerment for operating Well 7 without a chlorinator
- public endangerment for failing to monitor, sample and test the well water supplying the town of Walkerton
- forgery for falsifying the Daily Operating Sheet for Well 7 for May 2000
- using the false Daily Operating Sheet for Well 7 for May 2000 as if it were real
- breach of trust.
