A Back Mountain workshop addresses potential problems with Marcellus Shale drilling.

By Steve Mocarskysmocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

LEHMAN TWP. – Back Mountain residents who attended a workshop on “Natural Gas Drilling and Drinking Water” on Thursday received a mini education on how to protect their wells from potential contamination by migrating natural gas as well as what two regulator agencies are doing to protect state waterways from the same potential threat.

Bryan Swistock, a water resources extension associate from the Penn State Cooperative Extension, presented an hour-long talk about natural gas exploration in the Marcellus Shale formation, how problems with drilling operations could potentially affect drinking water supplies, and what residents can and should do to protect them.

The program was hosted by the Cooperative Extension, state Sen. Lisa Baker, state Rep. Karen Boback, Back Mountain Community Partnership, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission and the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Swistock said about 41 percent of all private drinking water wells fail at least one water quality test, so it’s smart to test one’s well water regularly even without the threat of natural gas from drilling wells migrating into them.

Swistock said energy companies are required to test all water supplies within 1,000 feet of a drilling site before drilling so they have a baseline to compare test results if there is suspected contamination of a water supply by drilling activity. Some companies, such as EnCana Oil and Gas, which is poised to begin drilling in the Back Mountain in July, test wells within 1 mile of a drill site.

Swistock said residents should make sure the person collecting water samples works for a state-accredited lab. He said he’s talked to several people who told them the person who took samples was the same person who negotiated a land lease with them.

For folks who live outside the area in which the energy company pays for testing but want to play it safe, he said a full round of tests can cost up to $1,000. However, testing for the most common elements associated with Marcellus Shale drilling – methane, chloride, barium and total dissolved solids (TDS) – costs only about $150.

Indicators of water problems include foaming or bubbling water or spurting faucets, salty or metallic tastes, changes in water color or odor and reductions in water quantity or flow.

Also making presentations on Thursday were Michael McDonnell, a water quality specialist with DEP, and Tom Beauduy, deputy director and counsel for the Susquehanna River Basin Commission.

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