We Can’t Take Safe Drinking Water for Granted

When calculating a patient’s fluid needs, I have never wondered if the water will have contaminants such as Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and sulfates and chlorides from gas drilling.  But, I do now after attending a Public Hearing on Proposed New Marcellus Wastewater Standards.  The Environmental Quality Board recently held public hearings in Allentown and other locations in the state.   

Interested parties from east Central PA as well as Wilkes-Barre and the Philadelphia area gave testimonies in Allentown on December 17. Meetings had already been held in Cranberry Township, Ebensburg (Cambria County) and Williamsport. 

Today, more natural gas companies are rushing to drill new wells to extract gas deposits in the Marcellus Shale running one mile down beneath most of our state.  In these difficult economic times, this drilling opportunity appears to be a new revenue source, reducing our dependence on foreign petroleum. Drilling involves a process called hydrofracturing, using millions of gallons of fresh water.  And, the wastewater is highly toxic, polluting Pennsylvania’s streams and rivers. 

Fifteen families in Dimock, Susquehanna County, became aware of this (1) after agreeing upon locating a drilling platform (similar to the one pictured on the left) only a few hundred feet from their homes.  They recently claimed that mismanaged drilling polluted their water.  One mother said her eight children got sick after drinking their once pure well water.  Another resident’s water well exploded in January. The residents also claimed that the drilling company refused to clean up the pollution.  If more drilling using hydrofracturing takes place, pollution problems will compound.   

Marcellus wastewater contains a mix of heavy metals including arsenic and lead, toxic chemicals such as benzene that can cause cancer, and salts.  This wastewater is generally 3-6 times saltier than seawater, and already has changed fresh water streams in Pennsylvania into saltwater environments.  The onus is on the recipients of the water to treat this water, whether you own your own well or rely on treatment plants in your municipality.  When it reaches cities like Philadelphia treating with chlorine, studies have shown that another toxic compound is created. 

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been allowing drillers to dump their wastewater with little treatment, and sometimes with none at all.  However, the DEP has proposed new standards for Marcellus wastewater that would finally require real wastewater treatment prior to any discharges into our drinking water supply.  

The testimonies I heard expressed grave concerns about the safety of the vital nutrient that is drinking water. Will testing take place at the drilling site?  Will the new standards be enough?   Who will treat the water and how?  Who will oversee and enforce the standards now that the DEP funding in the state budget was decreased by 33%?   

Clean Water Action* suggested these key points on DEP’s proposed changes to Chapter 95, Wastewater Treatment Requirements (2): 

1. We need safe drinking water!  DEP’s proposal of 500 mg/L for Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and 250 mg/L each for Sulfates and Chlorides will go a long way towards ensuring that our drinking water supplies will not have unsafe levels of TDS and these other contaminants.  DEP should not weaken their proposed discharge standard for TDS.   
2. We need these regulations to be in place as soon as possible to protect our rivers and drinking water.  DEP should stop giving out more drilling permits until wastewater rules are in place.  DEP should also stop allowing existing or proposed wastewater plants to pollute our rivers unless they follow these new rules.   
3. DEP should add discharge standards for those contaminants that are frequently found in Marcellus Shale gas drilling wastewater.  These would include bromides, arsenic, benzene, radium, magnesium, and possibly others.  Many of these contaminants are toxic to humans and very difficult for drinking water systems to remove.   
4. DEP needs to ensure that all aspects of the generation of Marcellus wastewater are regulated.  Currently there are no requirements to track wastewater from drilling sites to treatment plants, and there is no oversight over the reuse of Marcellus wastewater.   

What can you do?

By February 12, 2010 you can send written comments concerning DEP wastewater regulation proposal to: 

Environmental Quality Board
P.O. Box 8477
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8477  

Or by e-mail to:  RegComments@state.pa.us 

Make sure to state that your comments are concerning DEP’s Chapter 95 proposed revisions, and include your name and address. 


References:
(1) Coyle, Ryan, “Susquehanna County Residents Sue Gas Drillers,” November 20, 2009,
http://www.wnep.com/wnep-susq-drilling-lawsuit,0,3164189.story
(2) Clean Water Action* PA http://www.cleanwateraction.org/pa
For more details, visit
--NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113161830
--Delaware Riverkeeper Network http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/
--United Sludge-Free Alliance http://www.usludgefree.org/index.htm
--James V. Brown Library, Williamsport, PA
Since “a number of gas-drilling companies are currently operating in Lycoming County, landowners and those interested in researching background information on these companies can find some company profiles listed” on this page in James V. Brown Library’s web site: http://www.lycolibrary.org/lycoming_county_gas_companies.html 

*Clean Water Action: A Brief History
Mission Statement - Clean Water Action is an organization of 1.2 million members working to empower people to take action to protect America's waters, build healthy communities and to make democracy work for all of us. For 36 years Clean Water Action has succeeded in winning some of the nation's most important environmental protections through grassroots organizing, expert policy research and political advocacy focused on holding elected officials accountable to the public.  

History of Success - During the late 1960s water pollution was spreading virtually unchecked in many parts of the country, with a burning Cuyahoga River in northeast Ohio and a dead Lake Erie among the visible examples of much wider problems. Clean Water Action founder David Zwick, working with consumer advocate Ralph Nader, published Water Wasteland in 1971. The book was a two-year study of the nation's water pollution problems and concluded that a major reason for widespread water pollution was the power of polluters to work their political will.


-- Janet K. Little, MPH, RD, LDN  is a Nutrition Consultant, Allentown, PA