| Lake Boehmer | |
|---|---|
  Lake Boehmer  Lake Boehmer | |
| Location | Pecos County, Texas |
| Coordinates | 31°13′25″N102°43′44″W / 31.2237°N 102.72878°W |
| Type | reservoir |
| Etymology | named after former landowner Bernard Boehmer |
Lake Boehmer is an artificial lake in Pecos County, Texas. [1] [2]
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]
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]
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.
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