Reservoir in Pecos County, Texas
Lake Boehmer is an artificial lake in Pecos County, Texas.[1][2]
Area and water composition
The lake has been slowly growing since 2003.[2] It covers an area of more than sixty acres and the water is three times as salty as seawater.[1][2] The casing in the well is corroded and the well hit a salt layer.[2] The sulfate level is twenty-five times the legal limit for drinking water.[1]
Origins
In the 1940s or 1950s, oil wells were drilled near Imperial, Texas.[1] None of them produced oil, but water and the oil companies deeded them to landowners who used them to irrigate farms, but they have fallen into disuse.[3]
Name and ownership
The lake is named after former landowner Bernard Boehmer.[1][2] The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation have tried to contact him via a registered letter to an address in Missouri, but it is not known if it reached him or if he replied.[1] The ownership of the lake wells is unclear.[1]
There is also controversy as to where responsibility lies for cleanup and remediation.
References
Houston Chronicle: Take the money and plug|https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Editorial-Take-the-money-and-plug-Texas-can-t-17709076.php
