Fracking can pollute well water, study finds

[limpyhobbler]

Last edited Tue Jun 25, 2013, 10:48 PM - Edit history (1)

Jun 24, 2013
Higher Levels of Stray Gases Found in Water Wells Near Shale Gas Sites

DURHAM, NC – Some homeowners living near shale gas wells appear to be at higher risk of drinking water contamination from stray gases, according to a new Duke University-led study.

The scientists analyzed 141 drinking water samples from private water wells across northeastern Pennsylvania’s gas-rich Marcellus Shale basin.

They found that, on average, methane concentrations were six times higher and ethane concentrations were 23 times higher at homes within a kilometer of a shale gas well. Propane was detected in 10 samples, all of them from homes within a kilometer of drilling.

“The methane, ethane and propane data, and new evidence from hydrocarbon and helium content, all suggest that drilling has affected some homeowners’ water,” said Robert B. Jackson, a professor of environmental sciences at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment. “In a minority of cases the gas even looks Marcellus-like, probably caused by poor well construction.”
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http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/news/higher-levels-of-stray-gases-found-in-water-wells-near-shale-gas-sites

[limpyhobbler]

1. Fracking can pollute well water, study finds

WASHINGTON — Scientists have found that methane and other gases pose a significant risk of contaminating drinking-water wells near natural-gas drilling, raising new questions about possible health and safety risks from the production technique known as fracking.

A study published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that drinking-water wells in northeastern Pennsylvania within a kilometer of high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, showed methane concentrations six times as great, on average, as wells farther away.

The gas occurs naturally in the area’s aquifers. But the study showed the chemical composition of methane in wells near the drilling sites is the same as the natural gas extracted in the area.

The researchers tested water samples from wells in six counties where fracking has touched off a natural-gas boom. Fracking involves injecting large volumes of water mixed with sand and chemicals at high pressure deep underground to shatter rock formations and unlock oil and gas trapped inside.
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more: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2013/06/25/fracking-can-pollute-well-water-study-finds.html

[pa28]

2. Now maybe the EPA can finalize their own study showing the same.

If their employers will let them anyway.

[limpyhobbler]

3. Hasn't anybody warned you about listening to cynical voices?

A little methane never hurt anyone. It'll put hair on your chest. It's clean. That's what I heard on 10 TV commercials yesterday so it must be true.

[Optimistic Crone]

4. very disturbing video

I can not believe that video footage. I had no idea how invasive and just awful that this fracking is. WOW.


Thank you for sharing it, I will post it out to folks I know and get the word out a little bit. I still haven't seen the Gasland movie because I knew it would be seriously depressing and I really wasn't ready to include that pain yet. But here it is. I can not believe how our human society is destroying our biosphere, makes me cry when I see this rape and pillage of our mama.

Thank you for working for good.

[limpyhobbler]

5. It's horrible in so many different ways. It shakes houses. Uses tons of water.

And it leaks methane all over the place - at the drills, the flares, in the distribution system. A very powerful greenhouse gas. Gases are getting into water wells and groundwater. This industry has a special exemption from clean water regulations because they paid off the government and/or the politicians are invested in it. Competes with farms and people for water in an era of record droughts. It shakes the earth and I bet is is damaging old municipal water pipes. This industry pays big money to politicians and lobbyists to skew public policy. In return the government pushes natural gas as the fuel of the future and tries to get the whole world hooked on it. In conclusion fracking sucks.