U.S. gas drilling boom stirs water worries

…In northeastern Pennsylvania, drilling also threatens the Delaware River watershed, the source of water for 15 million people living in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, according to Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, a group that opposes the development.

According to the organization, 245 chemicals including methanol, benzene, glycol ethers and biocides are used in the fluid.

Matt Pitzarella, a spokesman for Range Resources, said the fracking chemicals could be dangerous in high concentrations but are heavily diluted and so pose no threat to human health. Wells have several layers of steel and concrete to stop the fluid escaping into aquifers where they could contaminate drinking water, he said.

About 80 percent of the fracking fluid remains about a mile underground — thousands of feet below drinking-water aquifers — where it “dissipates” into the rock after drilling, Pitzarella said. The remainder is treated on the surface and then returned to local water sources.

…Joyce Mitchell, owner of a 133-acre (54-hectare) farm near Hickory, said she has “mixed feelings” about having leased her land to Range Resources for gas drilling. Although she has welcomed the extra income from the lease and production royalties, she complains about a constant smell of gas, and no longer drinks the water from her well because she is concerned about its safety.

Reuters