Potential well water contaminants highest near natural gas drilling, finds new study

A new study of 100 private water wells in and near the Barnett Shale showed elevated levels of potentialcontaminantssuch as arsenic and selenium closest tonatural gasextraction sites, according to a team of researchers that was led by UT Arlington associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, Kevin Schug.

The results of the North Texas well study were recently published online by the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The peer-reviewed paper focuses on the presence of metals such as arsenic, barium, selenium and strontium in water samples. Many of these heavy metals occur naturally at low levels ingroundwater, but disturbances from natural gas extraction activities could cause them to occur at elevated levels.

"This study alone can't conclusively identify the exact causes of elevated levels of contaminants in areas near natural gas drilling, but it does provide a powerful argument for continued research," said Brian Fontenot, a UT Arlington graduate with a doctorate in quantitative biology and lead author on the new paper.

He added: "We expect this to be the first of multiple projects that will ultimately help the scientific community, the natural gas industry, and most importantly, the public, understand the effects of natural gas drilling onwater quality."

Researchers believe the increased presence of metals could be due to a variety of factors including: industrial accidents such as faulty gas well casings; mechanical vibrations from natural gas drilling activity disturbing particles in neglected water well equipment; or the lowering of water tables through drought or the removal of water used for the hydraulic fracturing process. Any of these scenarios could release dangerous compounds into shallow groundwater.

Read more:http://bit.ly/16ZYyPL

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