Family poisoned by arsenic found in Boulder monastery’s well, lawsuit alleges

One day in 2021, a married couple looking to buy a 27,000-square-foot former Buddhist monastery in Boulder asked the sellers about a disturbing rumor they had heard.

A neighbor had grown irate, the story went, and poisoned the monastery’s water well. But it was only a tall tale — “a false threat from environmental activists” — the couple was told.

Fifteen minutes northwest of downtown Boulder, at 500 Arroyo Chico Road, is one odd mansion. Built by an eccentric inventor and entrepreneur to be an off-the-grid monastery, it includes a 30-car garage, 7,000-square-foot deck, solar panels, cistern and greenhouse.

That appealed to Nicholas and Tatiana Becker, a health-conscious couple with two young children in search of rural living. Especially important to them was clean water…