Harvard is one of several municipalities that received falsified test reports performed on its public water supply by Thorstensen Laboratory of Westford, according to the state attorney general’s office. In addition, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) told the Press this week that private drinking water tests conducted by the laboratory in 2008 should be considered invalid.

As a result, the laboratory’s former owner has been indicted for submitting falsified water testing reports.

Harvard Department of Public Works (DPW) Director Rich Nota was confident this week that the public water is safe to drink. Nevertheless, Nota, who coordinates the water testing for the town, said that the discovery of issues with the lab “certainly left us uneasy.”

While the revocation of the laboratory’s certification was related to problems with reporting to public water suppliers, MassDEP has also stated that homeowners and others who had drinking water, including well water, tested in 2008 by the laboratory should have it retested by a MassDEP-certified laboratory. A list of MassDEP-certified laboratories is available at www.public.dep.state.ma.us/Labcert/Labcert.aspx.

Nota said that the town water supply, which serves about 62 households and an array of institutions—including the schools, library, churches, and town government buildings—is tested regularly. The town had used Thorstensen Laboratory for water testing for many years until last November when the DPW discovered that it was closed.

According to a press release from the attorney general’s office, Michael Carlson, 56, of Westford, was charged with 50 counts of making false reports to MassDEP as well as two counts of larceny under $250 and two counts of larceny over $250. The press release states, “The charges of larceny against Carlson stem from the allegations that the defendant collected thousands of dollars from municipalities for water tests that had either not been conducted or had been conducted at a laboratory not certified to conduct the water tests.”

The firm had been decertified by MassDEP in August 2007, in March 2008, and in January of this year for “deficiencies observed during routine on-site inspections.” A spokesperson for MassDEP, Ed Coletta, told the Press that the decertifications were for certain tests, and that the lab was permitted to conduct other tests.

Although Carlson informed MassDEP that he would subcontract to other certified labs tests that Thorstensen Laboratory was no longer allowed to conduct, the attorney general’s office alleges that the company was not, in fact, subcontracting the tests. According to the attorney general’s office, the laboratory “instead was manipulating the lab results to make them appear as if they had been conducted by certified laboratories, when the water samples had either not been tested at all or had been tested at Thorstensen.” Coletta explained that the test results themselves were not manipulated, but that the firm allegedly doctored the test reports by using the identification numbers of the certified labs that were supposed to be doing the testing.

Nota said there are close to 200 tests done on Harvard’s water supply every year, and pointed out that a firm can be decertified for some tests but not for others. He explained that “decertification can mean many things,” such as having unqualified people conducting the tests or using procedures or equipment that has not been properly qualified. He said that Thorstensen Laboratory had informed the town it would be subcontracting the tests to another certified lab, and added he had no reason to believe the tests had not been done.

When the DPW discovered in November that the laboratory was closed, Nota had no idea why. “We immediately changed vendors,” he said. He later discovered, through his own inquiries to MassDEP, that the company had been decertified. When asked by the Press why MassDEP didn’t notify Harvard officials about the decertification, Coletta said MassDEP had “no way of knowing who was involved” without obtaining specific lists from Thorstensen Laboratory. Nota said that results from the new water-testing lab, Nashoba Analytical of Littleton, confirmed test results the town had previously received from Thorstensen Laboratory. “We had no reason not to believe the results of the [Thorstensen] tests,” he said.

Earlier this year the attorney general’s office asked Nota for copies of test results provided to his department by Thorstensen Laboratory, but Nota said there has been no subsequent contact from the attorney general’s office about those results.

Nota said that his department has seen nothing to indicate any threat to town water. “People shouldn’t be alarmed that anything is wrong with the water supply,” he said.

A Middlesex County grand jury handed down the indictments against Carlson June 9. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court at a later date.