The Village of Gilbert is located in northeastern Louisiana. It is almost exclusively rural, with land used for agricultural and residential purposes. Gilbert's two wells tap the same aquifer to provide water for about 700 people.

In 1990, Gilbert residents began to complain that their water smelled of gasoline. Samples from the village's wells showed benzene (a component of gasoline) contamination. Gilbert had to plug their old wells and drill replacement wells. Contaminant source identification concluded that the benzene had leaked from an underground storage tank at an abandoned gas station 150 feet from Gilbert's wells. As of 1995, the total cost of responding to the contamination was approximately $426,000. Between 1995 and 2005, cleanup costs will total $648,000.

The village, with the help of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), implemented a Wellhead Protection Program in 1993. An inventory of 27 potential contamination sources were identified. New wells were located away from the sources. The village adopted a management ordinance and contingency plan. Given Gilbert's relatively small wellhead area and number of potential sources, Gilbert's Wellhead Protection Program cost approximately $4,600. Most of the costs were State salary costs for personnel who assisted from LDEQ and the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. Gilbert also spends about $125 per year for informal inspections of potential sources of contamination.

This is a contamination to prevention cost ratio of end of the range of cost ratios, prevention is still significantly cheaper than remediation.

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