Release date                     Internet location of release
July 05, 2000                    http://wy.water.usgs.gov/news/html/070500b.htm

Contact                          Address
District Chief                   2617 E. Lincolnway, Ste. B
Public Information Officer       Cheyenne, WY  82001-5662 
             

E-mail                           Phone          Fax
state_rep_wy@usgs.gov           (307)778-2931  (307)778-2764

GROUND-WATER SAMPLING FOR PESTICIDES TO BE CONDUCTED IN CROOK COUNTY

The Wyoming Department of Agriculture (WDA), the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), will be conducting a ground-water sampling program for pesticides in Crook County in July and August, 2000.

The purpose of the sampling program is to determine if pesticides are present in ground water, in accordance with Wyoming's Generic State Management Plan for Pesticides in Ground Water (SMP). The SMP was cooperatively prepared for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by representatives from local, State, and Federal agencies, the pesticide industry, and various agricultural and environmental interest groups. The SMP program gives Wyoming the ability to manage and continue the use of pesticides that might otherwise be unavailable because of cancellation of the federal registration due to ground-water concerns.

The ground-water sampling program part of the SMP was initiated in Goshen County in 1995. Since then, sampling to determine the occurrence and distribution of pesticides in ground water has been conducted in Park, Washakie, Fremont, Lincoln, Laramie, Big Horn, and Sheridan Counties. Ground-water sampling will also be conducted this summer in Platte and Johnson Counties - Crook County will be the 11th county to participate in the monitoring program. To date, pesticides have been detected in each county that has been sampled- but always at levels below state and federal drinking-water standards.

Ground-water sampling sites are selected based upon aquifer sensitivity and ground-water vulnerability mapping conducted by the University of Wyoming's Spatial Data and Visualization Center. Sampling sites are typically areas characterized by shallow ground water, porous soil and/or rock, and an urban or agricultural land use.

To effectively sample the ground-water resources in Crook County, the USGS needs a minimum of 15 well owners willing to volunteer their wells for sampling. The sampling is non-intrusive (your well will not be contaminated), there is no charge for the analysis, and each well owner will be provided with a copy of the laboratory analytical results.

If you would like more information about the ground-water sampling program, or are interested in volunteering your well for sampling, please contact Cheryl Miller (USGS) at 307/778-2931, ext. 2419 or Jim Bigelow (WDA) at 307/777-6590.

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