Federal officials will release funding to extend safe drinking water to areas of southeast North Dakota where rural residents have wells contaminated with arsenic, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said Monday.
Dorgan, who prodded the head of the Environmental Protection Agency to bring a new water system to more than 300 families who have wells with dangerous levels of arsenic, received a letter Monday from the agency.
In the first phase of the project, a rural water system will expand to serve homes in the Wyndmere and Lake Elsie areas. The EPA will begin designing an extension of the water service to serve remaining homes in the affected area.
"I'm encouraged by this response from the EPA," Dorgan said in a statement. "It's clear that we have a serious problem in this area that could pose a threat to public health."
