Groundwater Contaminated by Wyoming Landfills

By Ramsay Crooks

Published on July 22, 2005

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality recently released a statement saying that at least 65 of Wyoming's 145 landfills need to be improved to safeguard the state's groundwater from contamination.

The cost of the improvements and cleaning up existing leaks will likely be in the range of $180 million. Additionally, any new landfills in Wyoming will be required to line the area to prevent contaminants from leaching out of the site and into groundwater.

Some government officials have argued that linings should only be mandatory at large landfills so that costs can be kept down, but the chairman of the Wyoming Citizens Advisory Group on Solid Wastes advocates better planning and state funding as a means of making landfills more cost-effective as well as safer.

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