WAYNE CO. — An environmental group is encouraging well owners to test their water before fracking begins in Hamilton, Saline, Wayne and White Counties.

The Shawnee Division of the Sierra Club is concerned about the impact of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and is offering to test a person’s water supply for free.

…WAYNE CO. — An environmental group is encouraging well owners to test their water before fracking begins in Hamilton, Saline, Wayne and White Counties.

The Shawnee Division of the Sierra Club is concerned about the impact of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and is offering to test a person’s water supply for free.

Tom Blasdel has lived in his Wayne County home since 1980, drinking from his own well. He wants to keep that clean supply in good condition. That’s why he chose the Sierra Club’s testing.

Blasdel leased his land to a Kansas-based company for the next four years. He wants to protect his land but admits it was hard to turn down the money from the lease and the possible royalties.

“We all have a stake in this. We just want it done right and to develop the resource without destroying the environment. I think they can do that,” explains Blasdel.

Barbara McKasson with the Sierra Club says the best way to measure the effects of fracking is to have a point of reference.

“In order to prove that anything is happening because of the fracking, you need a baseline test to show what was in your water before the fracking began,” says McKasson.

The group wants people with their own wells, like Blasdel, to participate in this program. His biggest concern with the drilling technique is any possible impact on area water sources.

“You don’t give the fox the keys to the hen house when you leave and go on vacation. You have to do your due diligence,” says Blasdel.

The Sierra Club will be testing water supplies from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. June 16 at Harrisburg Township Park and from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on June 23 at the Main Street gazebo in Wayne City.

If you would like to have your water tested, call the Sierra Club at (618) 529-4824 prior to the events for instructions on how to take a water sample. ( source )

If any Water Testing Blog readers live in that area, please let us know what sort of tests get performed so we can make other aware of the sort(s) of testing the Sierra Club suggests private well owners perform on their water before fracking begins in their communities.

What if no fracking will ever take place near me?

While of grave concern to a good number of people, the dangers posed by hydraulic fracturing do not appear to have any sort of direct effect on folks not living in the immediate area where the fracking activity takes place. Note that we italicized the word ‘appear’ for emphasis.

Quite honestly, the practice of hydraulic fracturing has not existed in our society in the scale that it does now long enough for any scientists to reasonably say that it poses no long-term dangers to water supplies close to or far away from where the fracking takes place.

We simply do… not… know… what may or may not happen so regardless of where you live, keeping an eye on the quality of your water supply makes total sense. Whether the direct or indirect result of hydraulic fracturing or some other industrial activity, if you wait for the offender to confess to misdoings you will already have waited far too long and possibly taken a big chance with the safety of yourself and your loved ones.

With that said, please take the time to test your well water for basic things like total dissolved solids (TDS), dissolved heavy metals, pH & alkalinity, etc. Sudden fluctuations could indicate a problem worth investigating further.

As we always say, “It’s your water, your health… and ultimately your life!

Today’s question about well water testing and possible well water contamination by hydraulic fracturing came to us from a woman named ‘Terri’ in Pennsylvania who asked…

why is the cost so high to test water for fracking contamination? after the recent flooding it only cost $25.00 to see if the well water was safe to drink. is it best to have a local company test the water or should we send it to Penn State or out of state? how often after the drilling starts do you recommend water to be tested?

Thank you for this question, Terri, and we bet other folks facing the unwanted financial burden of paying for more ground/well water testing than the average homeowner with a well have wondered the exact same thing.

Well Water Testing (2 or 3 parameters)…

In our experience, well water testing that costs roughly $20 to $30 usually includes the following tests: Nitrates/Nitrites and Coliform Bacteria.

Some kits and marketed laboratory testing packages may include other tests, but not much more and definitely not nearly the number of tests included in the laboratory testing packages typically used to analyze water that may contain contamination resulting from hydraulic fracturing.

Testing for Fracking Fluid (potentially 100’s of parameters)…

From the very beginning companies that used hydraulic fracturing as a means of extracting natural gas from rock and shale formations deep in the Earth have kept the list of ingredients in their fracking fluids out of the public eye.

However, according to information posted on Wikipedia (10/28/11)…

“Chemical additives used in fracturing fluids typically make up less than 1% by weight of the total fluid. They are biocides, surfactants, adjusting viscosity, and emulsifiers. Many are used in household products such as cosmetics, lotions, soaps, detergents, furniture polishes, floor waxes, and paints.[33] Some are also used in food products. A list of the chemicals that have been used was published in a U.S. House of Representatives Report.[34] Some of the chemicals pose no known health hazards, some of the chemicals are known carcinogens, some are toxic, and the health hazards for the rest are unknown. The report does not include the concentration of each chemical used or the amount used.

A 2011 study identified 632 chemicals used in natural gas operations. Only 353 of these are well-described in the scientific literature; and of these, more than 75% could affect skin, eyes, respiratory and gastrointestinal systems; roughly 40-50% could affect the brain and nervous, immune and cardiovascular systems and the kidneys; 37% could affect the endocrine system; and 25% were carcinogens or mutagens. The study indicated possible long-term health effects that might not appear immediately. The study recommended full disclosure of all products used, along with extensive air and water monitoring near natural gas operations; it also recommended that fracking’s exemption from regulation under the US Safe Drinking Water Act be rescinded.[35]”

So as you can clearly see, the potential for harm befalling a person exposed to fracking chemicals could certainly clearly exist — even if it may take a while to happen through prolonged exposure to fracking chemicals in the air and/or in their drinking water.

With the number of chemicals and ‘other things’ possibly present in fracking fluid, and the mystery surrounding many of those additives true identities, responsible testing laboratories must use a shotgun approach when analyzing samples for the fracking fluid… because they have no solid idea of what exactly to look for.

The Best way to Test for Fracking Fluid?

Terri mentioned Penn State in her inquiry and at this point we feel the scientists at Penn State may very well have the best idea of what has transpired in that region due to their close proximity and the amount of time and resources that institution has dedicated to tracking the activities of gas drilling companies in the area.

Moral of the Story?

If companies intend to begin hydraulic fracturing in your area then you really ought to have the quality of your water tested before, during and after drilling.

If companies have already started drilling and you have not, yet, had a qualified water testing lab analyze your water, you really ought to have that testing done right away.

Some folks in North Dakota know all too well that bad things could possibly happen as a result of fracking because an oil well in their area recently developed a crack in its casing which caused 2,500 barrels of liquid to spew up from he well before workers could seal the well completely using a ‘heavy mud’ and cement plugs.

Diagnostic testing will begin today on an oil well that was breached early Wednesday morning 2½ miles southwest of Killdeer.

One state official says preliminary tests on water samples look good.

During a high pressured oil extraction phase involving water and chemicals, a process known as hydraulic fracturing, a mechanical failure caused a breach in the oil well’s 9.5-inch and a 7-inch casing, both surrounded by cement.

After the breach, the well known as Franchuk 44-20, began leaking oil and other liquids at the surface.

The leaking fluids were confined to the location, and all recoverable fluids were removed by vacuum trucks, according to a Denbury Resources Inc. press release.

A heavy mud and later three cement plugs were pumped into the well, at a depth of about 7,200 feet to 9,200 feet, creating a successful plug Friday, according to the release.

More than 2,500 barrels of liquid were gathered, including 2,255 barrels of frac fluid and 251 barrels of oil, according to the release.

State health department officials are involved as the well was drilled through the Killdeer Aquifer and sits near Spring Creek.

Dennis Fewless, director of the state’s Department of Health water quality division, said of the five wells sampled Thursday, preliminary results show “everything is normal.”

Fewless said the state laboratory will continue analyzing and testing samples through the weekend. ( source )

All of us here at Water Testing Blog hope the workers at that well escaped without injury when the well casing broke and all that nasty fluid came charging to the surface.

We also hope that the crews assigned to cap the well and clean up afterward did as thorough and complete a job as possible.

Water filter to remove hydrocarbons & oil from drinking water?

Yes. Such a product does exist. All the discussions about whether or not hydraulic fracturing (fracking) will have adverse effects on the quality of drinking water in surrounding areas have pushed some people previously on the fence about buying a water filter in the direction of investing in a water filtration system — and naturally they want to purchase a water filter capable of removing hydrocarbons and oils from drinking water.

Lucky for them, and you, that a leading manufacturer of home water quality improvement systems by the name of Crystal Quest came out with an 8-stage undersink water filtration system that has the ability to remove the following hundreds of contaminants, including hydrocarbons, oil, volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) and organic contaminants such as bacteria and viruses.

Using advanced technologies in membranes, blended coconut granulated carbon w/ several grades of REDOX media and other water purification techniques such as ultrafiltration, the Crystal Quest Undersink Triple Filter produces water whose quality rivals that of reverse osmosis water — without the tank and without any waste water.

• Three filter chambers provide 8 stages of water filtration. See below for details.
• Filter in the first chamber uses an ultrafiltration membrane to remove contaminants larger than 0.01 micron… which includes a wide range of organics such as bacteria and viruses, proteins, parasites, various forms of bacteria, pesticides and herbicides.
• Filter in the second chamber uses a custom blend of granulated activated carbon derived from coconut shell to remove volatile organic carbon compounds (VOC’s), insecticides, pesticides, and industrial solvents. This chamber also adsorbs the taste and odors associated with chlorine.

• Filter in the third chamber uses a 6-stage cartridge which removes hundreds of contaminants from the water.

Another advantage of using an undersink filter like this one: It installs quickly and easily and takes up no valuable counter space.

Looking for an oil removal filter for a ‘Big Blue’ housing?

Pentek (also known as Ametek & US Filter) manufactures the Big Blue Filter for Oils & Hydrocarbons which fits most standard 20″ Big Blue filter housings.