DEQ To Sample Locust Grove Private Water Wells

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A state agency plans to take water samples from private wells in Mayes County where one man died and at least 146 others were sickened due to bacterial contamination.

The Department of Environmental Quality will conduct the sampling following an environmental investigation by the state Attorney General's Office. The investigation follows an E. coli outbreak in Locust Grove in late summer 2008.

Read the DEQ news release.

The state Department of Health is continuing its epidemiological investigation and has not ruled out well water as a potential source of contamination. Health officials have focused on the Country Cottage, a restaurant in Locust Grove.

11/23/2008 Related story: Country Cottage Open For Business

The agency had said last August that well water was likely not to blame for the E. coli outbreak.

DEQ will test private wells in the area next Wednesday and Thursday.