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Town of Silt to test resident’s drinking water

Heidi Rice
Post Independent Contributor

SILT — The town has ordered water testing of a resident’s drinking water after she made claims earlier this month to the Garfield County commissioners that the town’s water was not tested and that it made her sick.

Peggy Tibbetts of Silt took up the matter with the Garfield County commissioners at their meeting on Monday, Feb. 17. Mayor Pro-Tem Rick Aluise, Silt Utilities Director Jack Castle and Town Administrator Pamela Woods also attended the meeting.

At the town’s regular meeting Monday night, Aluise reiterated his feeling that Tibbetts’ notion that the town’s water is not tested and that it makes anyone sick is absolutely “ridiculous.”



“I pointed out that in all the testing, we have never had one violation,” Aluise said. “Is she using a filtration system? Something like a charcoal filter can create compounds, and you think you’re doing something healthy and it makes things worse. What she’s doing is like yelling ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater.”

Tibbetts has said she does not filter her water.



Tibbetts could not be reached for comment, but maintains on her blog that several times in the past when she has consumed town water she came down with “stomach cramps and diarrhea which disappeared immediately when I stopped drinking Silt’s water.”

She also points to a 2004 incident in which a methane gas leak associated with an Encana gas well was discovered seeping into West Divide Creek.

Aluise says he has been drinking the water since he was a kid and has never gotten sick from it.

“The water department has pulled several [water] samples at the meter point at [Tibbetts’] house,” Aluise said. “The results should be back in a couple of weeks.”


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