Kofi Boateng - Boynton Beach Water Utilities Water Utility Director Allows lead poisoning in drinking water Boynton Beach, Florida

My only wish is to warn the world about Kofi Boateng who, I understand, is currently the water utilities director for the City of Boynton Beach, Florida. Kofi knowingly allowed large amounts of toxic lead to contaminate the water supply in the nation's capitol and did little or nothing to warn and notify the public affected. Kofi is a politician that is more concerned with style and appearances than substance. Kofi can talk for five minutes and say absolutely nothing of value or meaning.

Lead is a toxic substance that causes learning and behavioral problems systematic in children that are exposed to it. When Kofi was notified of this problem it was ignored. Kofi was more concerned with public appearance and the costs associated with treating the lead than with alleviating this drinking water problem.

I held a master's degree in a chemistry discipline when this occurred and was responsible for managing water quality with the testing laboratory. I was terminated or fired for performing my duties and reporting this problem with lead to the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA. This happened after Kofi Boateng ignored the problem with massive excessive levels of lead in the publics drinking water.

Kofi was a high level manager who supervised the workings at the Washington District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority or WASA. Kofi Boateng was the Director of the Department of Water Quality Services.  Kofi was responsible for making sure that the quality of the water was in compliance with all local and Federal regulations and requirements. This is a responsibility that he failed to uphold, in my opinion.

Woman and children were poisoned by very high levels of lead and the health problems may not show up for years. Mr. Boateng was not at all concerned with the health of the people drinking the water, but was worried about the cost and public perception of poor quality water contaminated with lead, a toxic element.

Kofi Boateng is the consummate politician and fit in quite well with the DC crowd, in my opinion. When I reported the problem and it was ignored by this politician, I went and notified the federal authorities. I was reprimanded for these actions and was even required to attend a class to respect the chain of command of authority of those over me.

Kofi Boateng was not concerned with my potential liability of knowing there was a problem with the lead in the drinking water and my responsibility to report it. Kofi wanted me to not report the problem and that would present problems for me. Many municipalities require their labs to have their personnel licensed. If I was to ignore the lead problem as Mr. Boateng wanted, the  EPA could have found out and fine me for a large sum of money. I could lose my job and be barred from future employment. I did not attend college for many years to be barred from employment over a politician that does not care about the health and safety of the public.

When this story broke in the public newspapers and media, which was when everyone was more worried about public damage control. I was eventually able to get my job back after being fired and the courts found in my favor that I was fired in retaliation for just doing my job.

The name Kofi Boateng is a common name from Africa and if you Google the name, you shall come up with many hits. I am only concerned about the director Kofi Boateng that works for the City of Boynton Beach water utilities in South Florida. May the gods help the poor people that work under him.

References:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/02/AR2005110202940.html
http://www.epa.gov/dclead/Action_Plan_to_Reduce_Pb_3_10_04%20.pdf
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/specials/water/wasa071604.pdf
http://www.bryanschwartzlaw.com/Bhat.pdf
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/mar2004/lead-m20.shtml

http://www.epa.gov/dclead/Action_Plan_to_Reduce_Pb_3_10_04%20.pdf