NEWS ALERT: Water Supply for Hamlet of Rosebud Contaminated

NEWS ALERT Water supply for Hamlet of Rosebud Contaminated with Carcinogen Bromodichloromethane by Fiona Lauridsen (resident with contaminated well water), September 15, 2006
ROSEBUD: Last night representatives from Alberta Environment, Wheatland County and the Calgary Health Region issued a “water usage advisory” to the residents of Rosebud, located one hour east of Calgary. The advisory warns residents to use bottled or filtered water due to the presence of a carcinogen in their local water supply: bromodichloromethane. Bromodichloromethane is toxic compound formed as a byproduct of adding chlorine to drinking water. According the US Environmental Protection Agency it is also a common byproduct of coal bed methane production: (See p.[39] Oil and Gas Extraction, Sector Notebook Project, EPA/310-R-99-006) In the last two years EnCana has repeatedly drilled and “stimulated” shallow wells with chemicals around the hamlet for coal bed methane. Several residents outside of the hamlet have lost their safe water after extensive CBM drilling and fracing. Alberta Environment is conducting an ongoing investigation. Just last month Wheatland County and Alberta Environment said the hamlet’s water supply “complied with provincial standards.”

[Refer also to:

Toxic Wastewater Dumped in Streets and Rivers at Night: Gas Profiteers Getting Away With Shocking Environmental Crimes, Allan Shipman was found guilty of illegally dumping millions of gallons of natural gas drilling wastewater. But he’s part of a much bigger problem

North Dakota Turns Blind Eye to Dumping of Fracking Waste in Waterways and Farmland, Releases of drilling and fracking waste, which is often laced with carcinogenic chemicals, have wiped out aquatic life in streams and wetlands ]