Potential Impacts of Gas Wells on Water Resources

New gas well technology poses risks to water

A new technology for extracting natural gas from tight shale formations appears to present significant risks to groundwater and surface water resources. For general information about this new technology, which depends on the injection, under very high pressure, of several million gallons of chemically treated water into a horizontally drilled well in order to fracture shale rock and release methane gas, the following links may be helpful:

• Lisa Sumi, Shale Gas: Focus on the Marcellus Shale, Oil and Gas Accountability Project, http://www.earthworksaction.org/pubs/OGAPMarcellusShaleReport-6-12-08.pdf
• New York State Water Resources Institute, http://wri.eas.cornell.edu/gas_wells.html
• Chemicals Used in Natural Gas Operations, Endocrine Disruption Exchange, http://www.endocrinedisruption.com/home.php

Recommendations for Baseline Water Testing of Private Drinking Water Wells

The new gas well technology increases the risk that nearby drinking water supplies could become contaminated. For comments by Stephen Penningroth, Executive Director of the Community Science Institute, on factors that contribute to the increased risk of groundwater contamination, click here.

If contamination does occur, the gas company can be held accountable, but only if there is solid evidence that water quality has changed. The Community Science Institute recommends that property owners contract with a state-certified testing lab to perform baseline water quality tests on their water before a gas well is installed on or near their property and at regular intervals after the well is completed.

For the Community Science Institute’s FAQs and recommendations entitled “Documenting Contamination of Private Water Supplies by Gas Well Drilling in New York State,” click here.

For a two-sided tri-fold brochure summarizing the Community Science Institute’s FAQs and recommendations entitled “Protecting Private Water Supplies Near Gas Well Drilling in New York State,” click here.

For recommendations from the Pennsylvania State University Cooperative Extension Service on testing private water supplies near gas wells, go to http://resources.cas.psu.edu/WaterResources/pdfs/gasdrilling.pdf