Pennsylvania State Study Shows Hydraulic Fracturing Does Not Harm Aquifers or Water Supplies
Yet another study, this one out of Pennsylvania, shows definitively that hydraulic fracturing does not damage rural aquifers or water wells. The study comes from The Center for Rural Pennsylvania - a bipartisan legislative agency serving as a resource and research arm for rural policy in the Pennsylvania Assembly and Senate. The study says, in part:
Post-Drilling Water Quality
Analyses of the data from both Phase 1 and Phase 2 water wells generally showed a lack of statistically significant changes in water quality parameters due to Marcellus drilling or fracking activity when comparing pre- to post-drilling elements of water quality.
I've downloaded the original study in PDF format and it is available here:
The Impact of Marcellus Gas Drilling on Rural Drinking Water Supplies
Figure 4. Comparison of pre-drilling total dissolved solids (TDS) versus post-drilling total dissolved solids concentrations in water wells sampled in both phases of this study. Points above the diagonal dashed line represent water wells where the TDS level was higher in the post-drilling sample in comparison to the pre-drilling sample. Points below the dashed line indicate higher concentrations in the pre-drilling water sample.
Figure 5. Comparison of pre-drilling dissolved chloride versus post-drilling dissolved chloride concentrations in water wells sampled in both phases of this study. Points above the diagonal dashed line represent water wells where the chloride level was higher in the post-drilling sample in comparison to the pre-drilling sample. Points below the diagonal dashed line indicate higher concentrations in the pre-drilling water sample.
The Impact of Marcellus Gas Drilling on Rural Drinking Water Supplies 15
when comparing pre- to post-drilling elements of water qualitPost-Drilling Water Quality - Analyses of the data from both Phase 1 and Phase 2 water wells generally showed a lack of statistically significant changes in water quality parameters due to Marcellus drilling or fracking activity.
