Sequence of events taken from testimony of Dr. Murray McQuigge, Medical health Officer for Grey-Bruce, Ontario and news reports

May 15, 2000

• Local Public Utilities Commission (PUC) takes routine sample of water supply.

• PUC receives a fax from a lab confirming E. coli contamination in May 15 water sample.

May 19, 2000

• Region's Medical Health Office (MHO) first notified about several patients with bloody diarrhea. (It turns out that local doctors had been treating patients with symptoms including bloody diarrhea, vomiting, cramps, and fever since May 17.)

• PUC assures health officials that the water is safe. MHO begins looking for other source of contamination, such as food.

May 20, 2000

• As many as 40 more people report to hospital with bloody diarrhea.

• PUC reassures officials again that Walkerton's water supply is safe.

May 21, 2000

• With more cases of illness reported MHO officially warns residents not to drink the water. MHO also takes its own independent water samples, despite being told by PUC there is no contamination.

May 23, 2000

• MHO's own lab confirms water is tainted with E. coli.

• After confronting PUC with test results, MHO finally told about May 18 fax. Health officials are also informed that the equipment used to put chlorine into at least one drinking well has not worked for some time.

Investigations start as three die in e-coli outbreak (May 24, 2000)

Ont. police to probe Walkerton water deaths (May 26, 2000)

Walkerton water trouble may go back months (May 27, 2000)

Jan. 9, 2001

• Walkerton-area councillors vote to dissolve the public utilities commission, the body that managed the town's drinking water.

• Council postpones voting on Stan Koebel's $98,000 severance package.

• Key witness Dr. Murray McQuigge, the regional medical officer of health, testifies at the Inquiry.

• McQuigge testifies the tragedy could probably have been avoided if Koebel had not kept critical laboratory tests a secret.

• Inquiry counsel Paul Calvalluzzo questions McQuigge about why he didn't invoke emergency procedures. McQuigge responds that it was the mayor's responsibility.

Jan. 10, 2001

• Dr. Murray McQuigge testifies the mayor, David Thomson, "was letting our credibility hang out there in the wind" by not telling what he knew.

• McQuigge suggests cutbacks and the privatization of water-testing labs by the Ontario government were partly to blame for the water contamination.

Third day on stand could be hardest for Walkerton health officer (Jan. 10, 2001)

Walkerton urged to accept cash settlement (Feb. 2, 2001)

March 19, 2001

• Chief Justice Patrick Lesage rules on a settlement to the class action suit, ending all civil litigation among the 13 parties involved.

• The Walkerton Compensation Plan was established to "do the right thing for the victims of this tragedy," said Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch. "Now people can get on with rebuilding their lives."

April 23, 2001

• Walkerton town council votes to pay Stan Koebel $84,000 in severance rather than face him in court. Under the original deal announced in the fall, he was to receive $98,000.

May 1, 2001

• A Town Hall meeting is held in North Bay, the part of a series throughout northern Ontario to address public questions regarding the inquiry.

May 10, 2001

• The Ontario government announces it will spend $25 million on safe drinking water and clean air in the provincial budget.

May 15, 2001

• The one-year anniversary of the E. coli outbreak in Walkerton. Part 1B of the hearings continues. They are expected to conclude in late June or July.

June 29, 2001

• Ontario Premier Mike Harris testifies before the Walkerton inquiry, becoming the first premier to testify before a judicial inquiry in Ontario in more than half a century.

Harris testifies at Walkerton inquiry (June 29, 2001)

Aug. 16, 2001

• A lawyer for the government of Ontario blames the Walkerton contamination on Stan Koebel, the town's former water manager, in his closing statements at the inquiry.

Aug. 22, 2001

• In his closing statements, Bill Trudel, Stan Koebel's lawyer, argues that several events contributed to the Walkerton tragedy and tells the inquiry "the blame game has got to stop."

Aug. 25, 2001

• Investigators for the Walkerton water inquiry search Ontario Premier Mike Harris's office for a third time. A spokesman for the inquiry says the search of the office's computer servers was being done to make sure the collection of government documents was as thorough as possible.

Closing arguments to begin at water inquiry (Aug. 15, 2001)

Ontario blames Walkerton on worker (Aug. 16, 2001)

Walkerton inquiry lawyer says stop the 'blame game' (Aug. 22, 2001)

Ontario premier's office searched (Aug. 30, 2001)

Nov. 26, 2001

• A report commissioned by the inquiry estimates the economic impact of the Walkerton tragedies to be $155 million.

Jan. 3, 2002

• Walkerton town councillors hold a meeting to discuss the future of Frank Koebel, the ex-foreman of the town's public utilities commission.

Jan. 16, 2002

• First report by Justice Dennis O'Connor leaked to the public four days earlier than scheduled.

Jan. 17, 2002

• The Ontario government asked police to investigate the leak of the Walkerton report on tainted water.

Jan. 18, 2002

• Justice Dennis O'Connor issued a scathing report saying Canada's worst E. coli outbreak could have been prevented by the Ontario government and Walkerton's water supply managers.

January 2002

• Inquiry continued to investigate files from the office of Premier Mike Harris.

May 23, 2002

• A second report is released to lay out more comprehensive recommendations covering all aspects of the province's water system.

March 25, 2003

• Ontario announces it will resume monitoring laboratories that monitor Ontario's drinking water.
• Stan and Frank Koebel are charged in the public-health disaster that claimed seven lives and sickened thousands more. Both are charged with public nuisance, uttering and forgery and breach of public duty.

Nov. 30, 2004

• Stan and Frank Koebel plead guilty to common nuisance. The charge carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison. Crown attorneys drop charges of forgery and breach of trust in exchange for the guilty pleas.

Dec. 20, 2004

• Stan Koebel is sentenced to a year in jail. Frank Koebel gets nine months house arrest. Ontario Superior Court Justice Bruce Durno stressed there was never any intent on the part of the Koebels to harm anyone, but he found them negligent in discharging their duties.