Wyoming County Mulls $14M Land Buy to Protect Aquifer

LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — An Albany County leader says the county should spend $14 million to buy more than 8 square miles of land to protect the aquifer that supplies more than half of Laramie's drinking water.

Commissioner Heber Richardson says the price is worth it to protect surface and ground water from contamination.

The Casper Aquifer supplies drinking water to both Laramie and about 450 rural residents.

The property being offered stretches from east Laramie to the Medicine Bow National Forest.

The landowner selling the property is the Warren Livestock Co.

Attorney Phil Nicholas, who presented the offer, says the owner will require that the eventual buyer must manage the land in a way that prevents groundwater pollution.