iP4700 Pixma - Distorted Lines of Text When Printing

I am having problems with distorted text printing with our IP4700. It is more prounounced when 'fast printing ' is set in preferencs, but is beginning to occur with normal printing as well.

Here is a test Word document (Arial 10 pt) with 0.5" margins all around, 2 equal columns of 3.6" with 0.3" spacing. This allows the 26 letters of the alphabet to exactly fit across the width of the column so the document is 'uniform' in appearance on the monitor. Both columns are similar and fit on one page if the final paragraph mark is selected and set to 2 pt.

I've placed a scan of the page in Imgur at this address:

Full Page Display

I selected a small portion in PSE and circled examples of  a 'perfect' letter 'l' and a distorted one and placed it here:

Detailed Section of Image

Also look at the bottom line of text in this detail and observe the 'offset to the right' of the descender portions of the letters 'j,' 'p,' and 'q.'

Can any one tell me what is wrong with our printer? Is there a 'fix' that I can apply?

thanks,

baumgrenze