Mayoral candidate Boyd Corbin’s repeated public criticisms over how Wilton Manors’ drinking water is tested has resulted in the Florida Department of Environmental Protection [FDEP] issuing a “clarification of when and how local and state officials should perform tests on local water systems.” 

That’s according to WLRN, which published a story on the issue on May 10. 

“Previously, an April 20 letter to the state from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suggested that Florida officials had been misinterpreting guidance of how and when to perform water quality tests. That letter was prompted by complaints to local and state officials lobbed by Wilton Manors resident and mayoral candidate Boyd Corbin. The EPA addressed the letter to Corbin, but two state officials at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection were copied.”

Corbin has criticized the commission heavily for not testing the water for certain cancer-causing chemicals. He’s also paid for private tests of the city’s drinking water, tests that found higher than allowed amounts of those cancer-causing chemicals. City officials did not accept the tests as valid because they said they weren’t supervised correctly and did not follow chain of custody rules.

After the letter was issued by FDEP, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] issued a statement that it “identified inconsistencies” related to when tests were conducted on specific harmful chemicals in Florida. “EPA currently understands that Florida DEP will be reaching out to all DEP Districts and relevant Department of Health County offices to ensure [chemical] monitoring is conducted correctly at water systems throughout the state.”

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