The Shawnee Division of the Sierra Club in Illinois has made the very generous and environmentally wise decision to give away free well water testing to residents in certain counties… before a company begins a gas-mining technique called fracking (hydraulic fracturing) in the area.
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!
