Friday, Mar 4 2011 7:27PM
Pavillian, Wyoming residents believe local natural gas drilling has contaminated their water.
Wyoming officials are investigating what may be contaminating the water supply in the rural town of Pavillion, reported the Billings Gazette.
The group — which includes federal and state government officials, in addition to representatives from the state's rural drinking water association and the natural gas company Encana — assembled after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled that Pavilion residents should not consume water from the town well due to contamination. However, the newspaper said the EPA did not specify what the contaminant was.
Pavillion residents claim that local natural gas drilling is polluting their water system services, according to the paper, although the industry has not been conclusively linked to the contamination. The EPA is studying the connection between drilling and the town's water, said the source, and will release the results in late March.
One method of natural gas drilling, known as fracking, may be responsible for water contamination in towns across the nation. An investigative report from the New York Times found many companies release wastewater from natural gas drilling into public water supplies without treating it for radioactive isotopes that may be present.