Second Dimock drinking water tests show no health concern, EPA says

The US Environmental Protection Agency completed a second set of samples at 20 private drinking water wells in Dimock, Pa., and did not find contaminant levels which warrant immediate action, EPA’s Region 3 office in Philadelphia said on Apr. 6.

The announcement followed one on Mar. 15 reporting similar findings from tests of the first 11 of 60 private water wells which EPA has agreed to study.

A spokesman for Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., which operates several natural gas wells in the area, said EPA’s findings were consistent “with literally thousands of pages of water quality data accumulated by state and local authorities and by Cabot.”

The spokesman said, “Importantly, EPA again did not indicate that those contaminants that were detected bore any relationship to oil and gas development in the Dimock area, particularly given the fact that any contaminants are more likely indicative of naturally occurring background levels or other unrelated activities.”

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].