The former operator of the New Brunswick and Milltown public drinking water systems is headed to prison for submitting false water purity testing data to state environmental officials.
State authorities say Edward O'Rourke was sentenced Monday. The 60-year-old Brick resident had pleaded guilty last December to corruption of public resources and violations of the safe water drinking act, and he received concurrent three-year sentences for both charges.
O'Rourke admitted that between April 2010 and December 2012, he repeatedly and intentionally submitted false water purity testing data to the state environmental protection department. He did this to hide that he had failed to properly oversee the testing of drinking water samples for the two towns.
The investigation didn't reveal any evidence that water distributed to the public ever contained coliform bacteria.
