Since we started this site a few years ago we have discussed a wide range of topics, but none has attracted more of a following than Hydraulic Fracturing (AHA: ‘Fracking’) due to its potential long-term effects on our water supply.

For those not familiar with fracking, the term refers to the act of using high powered pumping equipment to force water, sand and proprietary mixtures of chemicals deep into the Earth’s crust with extreme pressure in an attempt to literally shatter (fracture) formations of shale, a type of rock, and in doing so liberate natural gas trapped in the rock. Other high powered and very complex equipment then collects both the fracking solution and any freed natural gas at the surface.

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Advocates of fracking claim their equipment has excellent recovery rates of fracking fluid and liberated gas while opponents of fracking say they have indisputable proof that fracking causes potentially irreversible damage to fresh water deposits, through which fracking fluids and equipment must burrow, and that this damage comes from equipment failures and in some cases a lack of environmental responsibility on the parts of drilling companies.

Whether you side with the drilling companies (and their investors) or environmentalists and members of communities claiming that drilling companies have destroyed the water supply in various regions of the country, the fact remains that fracking has happened and probably will continue to happen until someone comes up with solid, irrefutable evidence that fracking causes wholesale damage to underground aquifers.

Moral of the story?

Until more private citizens begin testing their well water on a regular basis no one will ever know the true extent of damage potentially or actually caused by hydraulic fracturing and gas companies will have the ability to possibly walk away from ‘environmental situations’ their activities may have caused.

You simply cannot prove an After without proof of a Before. Sounds stupid, sure, but in the grand scheme of things, and when it comes to the quality of drinking water, Water Testing Blog strongly suggests that more people take an interest in the quality of the water coming up and out of their private wells… because others who see only dollars, cents and profit may not care — or may not care enough — about the safety of your drinking water.

Testing options?

Obviously you WILL need to use the services of a certified water testing laboratory. First and foremost we highly suggest consulting the US EPA Web Site which features a list of State Certification Officers for Drinking Water Laboratories. Simply locate your State’s officer and call to get a list of currently certified drinking water testing laboratories in your State.

For those not interested in having a ‘full-blown’ water test performed — which could cost many hundreds of dollars if per formed and documented (important!) correctly — non-local companies such as National Testing Laboratories offer decent, comprehensive and certified water testing services in most US States.