Study: Dense drilling impacting watersheds
http://standardspeaker.com/news/study-dense-drilling-impacting-watersheds-1.1050047
Study: Dense drilling impacting watersheds
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: October 17, 2010
A preliminary study of Susquehanna County watersheds has found that high-density Marcellus Shale gas drilling might degrade streams regardless of how carefully that drilling is done.
The tentative findings were released by researchers with the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia on Tuesday to demonstrate the need for studies of the long-term and cumulative impacts of deep-gas drilling on watersheds – an area largely devoid of research despite the rapid expansion of Marcellus Shale gas extraction in the state.
The preliminary study conducted this summer by academy researchers and a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania looked at small watersheds in and around Dimock Township, an epicenter of shale drilling in the region.
Scientists compared water quality and the presence of environmentally sensitive insects and salamanders in nine similar watersheds, three of which had no drilling, three some drilling and three a high density of drilling.
The watersheds with high-density drilling – defined as four to eight wells per square kilometer – had significant impacts on all measures compared to those with little or no drilling, the researchers found.
Water conductivity – a measure of the dissolved salts and metals in the stream and a potential indicator of the presence of gas drilling wastewater – was almost twice as high in the streams in high-density areas than those in areas with little or no drilling.
In the high-density sites, the number of both sensitive insects and salamanders were reduced by 25 percent.
The findings were first reported Tuesday by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“The data suggest, on one hand, that you could have a certain level of drilling and be OK,” said Dr. David Velinsky, vice president of the academy’s Patrick Center for Environmental Research. “But if you get to a watershed where you have tons of these well pads and the associated infrastructure, you’ll see some change in the ecosystem health.”
A spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, said the organization does not comment “on preliminary, non-peer-reviewed, unreleased ‘studies’ that we have not even had the opportunity to examine.”
The spokesman, Travis Windle, referred to national and state studies that show a trend of high and increasing levels of total dissolved solids in streams “long before Marcellus production commenced just a few years ago.”
Total dissolved solids, or TDS, can come from many sources, including road salt and fertilizer. Velinsky said the researchers accounted for other sources of TDS, in part by comparing similar streams in the same region.
He also said the main purpose of the preliminary data is to demonstrate the need for funding for a more rigorous field experiment of between 30 to 40 watersheds. The researchers have applied to the state’s Growing Greener program to fund such a study.
llegere@timesshamrock.com
I would call the reader’s attention to the headline, which reads “Study: Dense drilling impacting watersheds’, and the first line of the body of the article which reads in part “high-density Marcellus Shale gas drilling might degrade streams”. There is a great deal of difference between a headline which implies present action and further wording which implies possible future action. This was written to inflame the public about a process which even the authorities do not have enough information to definitively say it is good or bad.
I would have to agree with Richard – If you took out natural gas and put in strip mall or commercial development I would suspect the results would be the same. This is probably more of a stormwater runoff impact and development impact than an impact related directly to shale development. They are seeking funding.