Germantown water crisis blamed on human error; employee placed on leave - WREG NewsChannel 3

Germantown water crisis blamed on human error; employee placed on leave

A City of Germantown employee has been placed on leave after a diesel spill that contaminated the city’s water system.

The city has determined that the July 20 diesel spill at a city water plant was due in part to “human error by a tenured employee,” a Germantown spokesperson said Tuesday.

That employee has been placed on administrative leave pending the completion of an investigation.

Germantown issued an advisory against drinking or using tap water for about 37,000 city water customers after a diesel spill traced to a backup generator was detected in the water July 20.

City officials have previously said approximately 100 gallons of fuel overflowed as a backup generator powering the water plant during an electrical outage was being refilled. That fuel spilled into a grassy area where it leaked into a pipe supplying the city’s reservoir.

But until now, city officials have not acknowledged that the problem was due to an error by a particular employee.

The water advisory was issued a week after the spill was detected, after Germantown flushed its system and tested samples for diesel.