Complex Owner Settles Epa Water Complaint Water At Pinegrove Duplexes On A Schedule To Be Tested

The owner of a Coeur d’Alene housing complex has paid $2,000 to settle a complaint alleging that he violated the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

Jess Goetz, owner of the Pinegrove Duplexes and its water system, neither admitted nor denied the allegations made by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency late last year, according to the settlement agreement.

The Pinegrove water system provides water via 17 service connections to about 50 residents.

The complaint said that Goetz ignored a July 1996 order from the EPA directing him to conduct sampling and survey activities required by the water act.

The order instructed Goetz to monitor the water for nitrates, inorganic chemicals, lead and copper.

Goetz could not be reached for comment.

Goetz did not respond to the order or notify Pinegrove residents of his failure to monitor the water, the complaint said.

Goetz now is on a schedule to bring Pinegrove’s water system into full compliance with the federal regulations.

“People are entitled to know what’s in the water they drink, and the only way they can be assured that the water is safe is for the water supplier to take samples and have them tested, as the law requires,” said Larry Worley, manager of the EPA regional drinking water unit at the agency’s Seattle office.