Trouble In Suburban Wyoming Paradise - Wells Drying Up, Water Contaminated

[hatrack]

After building high-end houses in a new subdivision south of Douglas, some homeowners are finding their wells are going dry n or are turning up all sorts of contaminants. Faced with few viable options outside of hooking up to the city water system, about 15 homeowners in the Sundance Meadows subdivision formed a water district, giving them the authority to seek financial help from the state. The Wyoming Water Development Commission will take public comment on a proposal to build a transmission line and distribution system from the city’s water supply to the water district’s residents at 2 p.m. today at the Memorial Hospital of Converse County board room.

Jim Morgan was one of the first to build a home at the subdivision, with lots lining the banks of the North Platte River, hay meadows for neighbors and stunning views of distant Laramie Peak. At first his well produced a strong 17 gallons per minute, but soon went dry. “We drilled four holes and we had a good well, we thought,” Morgan said. “But it went dry when a neighbor drilled nearby at the same depth. We both went dry at the same time.”

Morgan was fortunate enough to find water by drilling another well. Some neighbors weren’t so lucky, and are faced with hauling water. Others with producing wells are finding a range of contaminants that they don’t want affecting the health of their families. “Just because you have a well and it’s lasted awhile, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good well and safe water for your kids to drink,” said Morgan, who is also chairman of the water district. “There certainly is a very long history in Wyoming of hardy folk drinking water from the ground, and of the state requiring only that there be no fecal contaminants.” But that’s not good enough in today’s world, where people are empowered with more knowledge of the potential adverse effects of bad water.

“We have uranium contamination above the Environmental Protection Act standards, and we have salt levels that are six to seven times what a normal water softener would do to your water,” he said. “We have methane gas in some wells, we have high levels of sulfites, and we have neighboring wells with arsenic levels a little over the EPA’s new standards.” The district hired a geologist to consider options, with little success. “Very clearly, there aren’t any really reliable aquifers,” Morgan concluded. “There is only one option, and that is to connect to the City of Douglas as a wholesale customer,” commission Project Manager Chris Abernathy agreed.

EDIT

http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2006/12/04/news/wyoming/0bcd1a89fa89a2128725723900268aa0.txt

Don't worry - I'm SURE the developer will pay the cost of city water hookups for these unfortunate homeowners.

:eyes:

[whistle]

1. Using up non-renewable fossil water which has been underground

...for over 2 million years.

[villager]

2. good thing they didn't listen to "crazy environmentalists"

before building God's Own Subdivisions...

[Ian David]

3. Ann Coulter says there can never be a shortage of something that literally falls from the sky.

Water shortage?

That's just something Liberals use to scare people into their Nazi-Like agenda.

:sarcasm:

[libodem]

4. He/she/it is a lying scumbag skank

(I was going to say a bitch but i don't want my feminist sisters coming after me) shhh. I hate Ann Coulter with every fiber of my being. But I hate Dick Cheney even more. (hateful little thing am I not?) Wyoming is Dick's home state. He is a big ol' oil drillin' fiend from hell. I blame him if all the water in the cowboy state dries up into a sludge pond of filth. Gawd, I wish they could impeach both of those unscrupulous bastards from the White House and send them into exile in Iraq. They wanted it, they started it, now let them have it. They can fuck up the water over there, too.

[phantom power]

5. Until it *stops* falling from the sky.

[Jackpine Radical]

6. Even if the rains continue to fall,

they're getting sufficiently acid to eat the paint off your SUV.

[NNadir]

7. Here's an idea:

Demolish the fucking houses.

The world could do without the sprawl in the first place.

[amandabeech]

8. Ship them Perrier mined in Michigan!

That's the ticket! It's a new growth industry in Michigan!

No one seemingly wants to create jobs and homes near the water, so take the water to the jobs and homes.

Ship it by truck, too! Keep Detroit Diesel in business.

There's room only for coal on the railbeds into Wyoming, anyway.

[IDemo]

9. This article doesn't mention another threat to Wyoming water:

Coalbed methane extraction has resulted in aquifer drawdowns and the poisoning of human drinking water.