Pavillion, Wyoming is a small town where the skies are the blue, the grass is green and the water is contaminated. Pavillion is home to multiple gas drilling sites owned and run by a company called Encana. In 2008, Pavillion residents first began complaining “about foul smells, illness and discolored water.” The government ignored their request to look into it, so the EPA took it into their own hands to investigate. Two years later they finally are beginning to get some results. After extensive testing by the EPA, traces of benzene, metals, naphthalene, phenols and methane have been found in the water. Government officials were told about this and residents expressed concern yet this concern was ignored. Now two years later, the government’s best advice for these residents is to not drink their water, and avoid using fans or any form of ventilation while showering or using water to avoid an explosion. As for Encana, the company responsible for the gas drilling and the contaminated water, there solution to this problem is to supply bottles of water to residents so they do not drink the methane polluted tap.
Source: Lustgarten, Abrahm (2010, Sep 2). “Fed Warn Residents Near Wyoming Gas Drilling Sites Not To Drink Their Water,” CommonDreams.org http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/09/02-1
Student Researcher: Ashlie Klepper
Faculty Evaluator: Eric J Ziegelmayer, PhD