Fracking study: Little fouling of water

Staff report

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.

A new study commissioned by Pennsylvania State University says a process used to mine oil and natural gas does not significantly contaminate drinking water.

A study of more than 200 drinking-water wells near Marcellus Shale natural-gas wells in 20 Pennsylvania counties did not find statistically significant evidence of contamination from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a process in which water, chemicals and sand are blasted into rocks thousands of feet below the ground to unlock natural gas and oil.

The study was conducted from February 2010 to July 2011 by researchers and extension educators in PSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

The study found methane in about 25 percent of water wells before any drilling occurred, but concentrations were below advisory levels for treatment.

Methane, according to the study, can be naturally occurring or related to drilling activity.

There is no federal drinking-water standard for methane as it can be ingested without harm, but high levels can cause an explosion hazard as the dissolved methane escapes from water.

Bromide, meanwhile, appeared in some water wells but because of the gas-well drilling process and not fracking, the study said.

The study’s modest number of samples for methane and bromide and the relatively short length of the study speak to the need for additional data collection and analysis, said project leader Bryan Swistock, water-resources extension specialist.

The research was funded by the state General Assembly’s Center for Rural Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center at PSU.