PAVILLION, Wyo. – The federal government is telling people not to drink the water from 40 wells in a central Wyoming town, including 17 wells contaminated by hydrocarbons.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday released its findings from testing 19 wells for residential drinking water plus four wells for livestock and irrigation in the Pavillion area.
Seventeen drinking water wells have low levels of hydrocarbons possibly associated with oil and gas drilling from the 1960s through the present day.
But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says high levels of sodium, sulfates and other inorganic materials unrelated to drilling are reason enough not to drink the water in a total of 40 wells tested since last year.
About 100 people attended a public meeting on the findings.
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