No common ground found on cancer ‘cluster’
http://citizensvoice.com/news/no-common-ground-found-on-cancer-cluster-1.1152060#axzz1NN3RonoJ
By Andrew Staub (Staff Writer)
Published: May 25, 2011
PITTSTON – To prove the existence of a cancer cluster near the Butler Mine Tunnel, residents arrived at a city school on Tuesday armed with anecdotal evidence – exhibits like a bald head hidden under a ball cap, scars from medical treatments and stories of friends and family who succumbed to cancer.
To discount the existence of a cancer cluster near the Butler Mine Tunnel, scientists from the state Department of Health and officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency arrived to the school with empirical evidence – 17 year’s worth of data, literature and detailed presentations.
The two sides, meeting in the Martin L. Mattei Middle School’s cafeteria, never quite reached a common ground. Instead, residents lobbed questions – and frustrated grumbles – toward officials from the EPA and Department of Health when told the 60 or more cases of cancer that have accumulated on Mill and Carroll streets do not qualify as a cancer cluster.
Such an assertion, residents said, is hard to believe considering the Butler Mine Tunnel looms beneath portions of the city. The tunnel, designed as a drainage outlet for a maze of abandoned mines, served as an illegal dumping ground for oil waste in the late 1970s and twice spewed its sludge into the Susquehanna River.
“Who shot Kennedy?” said Chuck Meninchini, a Carroll Street resident diagnosed with lymphoma in February.
While allusions to a cover-up at worst and a lack of answers at best filtered through the room, the EPA’s remedial project manager for the Butler Mine Tunnel Superfund Site, Mitch Cron, tried to assure residents the mine tunnel posed no present danger to them.
“The public is not exposed to contamination from the Butler Mine Tunnel Superfund Site,” Cron said, uttering a line he would repeat several times throughout the night.
The EPA has found oil and grease residue near a borehole at the Hi-Way Auto Services Station, the business that allowed the waste to be dumped into the ground from 1977-79, Cron said. And though one hazardous chemical was detected in amounts above drinking water standards, Cron said that the mine water is not used for drinking and that the water running through the tunnel now is “generally very clean.”
Dr. Stephen Ostroff, director of the state’s bureau of epidemiology, presented data that showed Pittston’s cancer rate outpaces the state average by 11 percent, with an excess of lung, colon and thyroid cancer diagnoses from 1992 to 2008.
Still, Ostroff couldn’t confirm the presence of a cancer cluster, defined by the EPA as an “occurrence of a greater than expected number of cases of a particular disease within a group of people, a geographic area or a period of time.”
City residents suffered from a wide range of cancers, while cancer clusters generally involve a large number of one type of cancer or a rare cancer, Ostroff said. The types of cancers found in excess in Pittston, Ostroff said, usually are not caused by exposure to chemicals.
“That’s the bottom line,” he said.
Most residents disagreed with Ostroff.
Some questioned why the Department of Health examined the entire 18640 zip code instead of limiting its examination of Pittston to just Mill and Carroll streets, where most residents say they’ve noticed inflated numbers of cancers. A small sample size, Ostroff said, would not provide sufficient data.
Others discounted the data from the state cancer registry, and one resident even suggested to “delete” it. Another man walked out when Cron said the EPA had no plans to test soil samples from homes on Mill and Carroll streets.
Edward Appel lives on Mill Street and came to the school with his wife, Helen. She sat in a wheelchair beside Edward, who described his wife’s past battle with breast cancer, then brain tumors. He believes the mine tunnel must be connected to Helen’s trip through “hell.”
“It’s easy to say nothing’s happening – by the people that don’t have the cancer,” Edward Appel said.
Another Mill Street resident, George Boone, collected some of the pamphlets at the open house. A heavy white bandage wrapped around his left arm told the story of the kidney dialysis he endures three times a week, while his shirt hid the scar left when surgeons removed his right kidney about 11 years ago at the outset of his battle with kidney cancer.
Boone’s friend, Phyllis Hadley, said cancer claimed in-laws and her husband. Then she rattled off surnames of several city families who have lost someone to cancer.
“You know what,” Hadley said, “if you stopped to think ⦠” “⦠You’ll count forever,” Boone said, finishing her thought.
The anecdotal evidence hasn’t changed the mind of the EPA or the Department of Health, both of which stood by past research and observations.
Area elected officials such as state Sen. John Yudichak and U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, though, left residents with a vow to continue the search for clarity about Pittston’s high rate of cancer. Barletta would like to see additional testing to find out if there’s a root cause, said his spokesman, Shawn Kelly.
“Even if it’s not the Butler Mine Tunnel, we want to make sure it’s not something,” Kelly said. “The people here deserve answers.”
astaub@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2052
Shale drillers eye mine drainage for fluid
http://www.waterworld.com/index/display/news_display/1422301945.html
Timothy Puko
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
May 22, 2011
A growing energy industry that comes with its own pollution concerns could help clean up one of the oldest pollution problems in Pennsylvania.
Shale gas drilling uses billions of gallons of water every year to break into rocks one mile underground. Drillers put chemicals such as methanol, benzene and 2-butoxyethanol into that water to help their equipment work and coax gas forth, but that angers environmentalists and landowners who worry about the water spilling or seeping into public drinking water sources.
One solution could be to use water that’s even dirtier.
University of Pittsburgh professor Radisav D. Vidic is studying how drillers could make use of mine drainage water, since thousands of gallons flow untreated into waterways statewide every day. It would keep that toxic drainage out of water supplies and stop drillers from using tanker trucks that burn gasoline and crush roads while hauling water to well sites, Vidic said.
“I was completely blown away by the fact that they were willing to truck water around,” said Vidic, a civil and environmental engineer.
He’s in the middle of a three-year, federally funded research project and is focusing on how to use mine water.
“Not only do you reduce the traffic and opportunities for spilling, but you clean up some of the legacy issues (left by coal),” he said.
Drilling companies are taking notice.
‘Every little bit counts’
Read more
Doctors raise questions about health impacts of drilling
http://citizensvoice.com/news/doctors-raise-questions-about-health-impacts-of-drilling-1.1151308#axzz1NGoFQInA
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: May 24, 2011
Area physicians brought their questions about the potential health impacts of natural gas drilling to a symposium on the issue Monday night and learned how much about those impacts has yet to be studied.
The Lackawanna County Medical Society sponsored the forum as an introduction to the gas drilling process and its relative risks to drinking and surface water.
Kim Scandale, executive director of the society, said the hope is to address at future sessions some of the unanswered questions raised by the doctors – everything from where to report symptoms potentially related to the drilling to whether there have been epidemiological studies in other gas-drilling states.
Bryan Swistock, water resources extension specialist for Penn State Cooperative Extension and a presenter at the symposium, emphasized the importance of pre- and post-drilling water tests of residential wells. The tests can document any changes to water supplies that might help doctors understand symptoms, he said.
He also detailed the lack of state standards for drinking water wells, which can lead to poor construction and unsafe health conditions even before gas drilling begins.
Doctors in the audience raised concerns about how to determine if symptoms can be connected to nearby drilling, especially since patients’ complaints tend to be “very nebulous, like numbness and joint pain.”
The Northeast Regional Cancer Institute is in the early stages of planning a study of baseline health conditions in the Northern Tier to help measure any health impacts from drilling if they do occur, the center’s medical director and director of research Samuel Lesko, M.D., said.
“At least it will give us some baseline data that might be useful five years or six months from now,” he said.
llegere@timesshamrock.com
Panelists will discuss Marcellus Shale development at Wilkes forum
http://citizensvoice.com/news/panelists-will-discuss-marcellus-shale-development-at-wilkes-forum-1.1150635#axzz1NGoFQInA
Published: May 23, 2011
Wilkes University will host a forum, “Consensus on Marcellus development: What would it look like, and how do we get there?” at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts.
The event, sponsored by the Wilkes University Alumni Association and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research of Northeastern Pennsylvania, will feature a panel of participants with different perspectives.
Panelists include:
> Kenneth Klemow, Wilkes professor of biology and associate director of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
> Brian Redmond, Wilkes professor of earth science.
> Clayton Bubeck, environmental engineer with Rettew Associates and a 1997 Wilkes graduate.
> Steve Brokenshire, environmental scientist with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and a 1992 Wilkes graduate.
> Nancy Dolan, a community activist with the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition and a 1996 Wilkes graduate.
> State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, a state legislator and a 1967 Wilkes graduate.
> Teri Ooms, executive director of the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development.
Admission is free and the forum is open to the public. Advance registration is encouraged; pre-register at [ http://community.wilkes.edu/s/344/index.aspx?sid=344&pgid=1115&gid=1&cid=2245&ecid=2245 ]
Study suggests businesses benefiting from Marcellus Shale development
http://live.psu.edu/story/53511#nw69
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Marcellus Shale development is likely to affect local businesses across Pennsylvania, according to Timothy Kelsey, professor of agricultural economics.
University Park, Pa. — A survey of businesses in two Pennsylvania counties where natural-gas drilling is occurring suggests that the Marcellus Shale boom is having a positive net effect on business activity.
Summarized in a fact sheet, “Local Business Impacts of Marcellus Shale Development: The Experience in Bradford and Washington Counties, 2010,” the survey was part of a larger economic impact study being done by the Marcellus Shale Education and Training Center, a partnership between Penn State Extension and the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport.
Partial funding for the study came from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.
“The Marcellus Shale gas boom clearly has the potential to affect local businesses across Pennsylvania,” said Timothy Kelsey, professor of agricultural economics in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and a lead author of the publication.
“The survey results provide insights into what occurred in two of Pennsylvania’s most active Marcellus Shale counties during 2010 and what other counties could experience as drilling activity increases,” added Kelsey, who also serves as Penn State Extension state program leader for economic and community development.
Researchers surveyed 1,000 randomly selected businesses in each of the counties. Responses were received from 619 businesses — 360 from Bradford County and 259 from Washington County. “The types of businesses responding generally were consistent with the actual business composition of each county’s economy, making the survey fairly representative of actual conditions,” Kelsey said.
Approximately 22 percent of businesses in Bradford County and 9 percent in Washington County reported changes due to Marcellus Shale development.
Nearly a third of Bradford County businesses and 23 percent of Washington County businesses reported increases in sales due to natural-gas drilling. Three percent of Bradford County respondents and 2 percent of Washington County respondents reported a drop in sales.
In regards to employment trends, about 90 percent of survey respondents said that natural-gas drilling has not changed their number of employees. Most of those reporting a change said that they have more employees due to natural-gas development.
A similar percentage reported that their ability to find and hire qualified employees has not changed, although this varied by county. About 13 percent of Bradford County businesses reported trouble attracting workers, compared to only 2 percent in Washington County. About 9 percent of Bradford County businesses reported greater employee turnover due to Marcellus activity.
Kelsey noted that differences in Marcellus-related sales and employment trends in the two counties likely were due mostly to the relative size of their populations and economies. Bradford County is largely rural with a population of about 60,000, while Washington County is much more urbanized and is home to more than 200,000 residents.
“The results suggest that the size of the host county is an important factor affecting the scope and visibility of impacts on businesses due to natural-gas drilling,” he said. “The relative impacts likely will be greater in smaller counties, but this also means greater risk of a ‘bust’ when drilling activity slows.”
The survey also showed that changes in business activity differed across business types. For instance, 80 percent of hotels and campgrounds in Bradford County reported changes due to gas-drilling activity, and 100 percent reported higher sales.
Higher sales also were reported by half of that county’s financial businesses, 44 percent of retailers, 38 percent of eating and drinking establishments, and 33 percent of wholesale trade and business services firms.
Despite concerns about the possible negative effects of Marcellus gas drilling on tourism, tour operators, souvenir stores, tourist attractions and other tourism-related businesses did not appear to be affected. Twenty-nine percent of such businesses reported increased sales due to natural-gas drilling activity, while 71 percent reported no change. None reported difficulties in finding or retaining employees.
“However, the long-term impact on tourism still is unknown, since additional new well pads, pipelines and access roads have the potential to change communities enough to affect tourism,” Kelsey said.
Kelsey cautioned that the survey offers just a snapshot, taken very early in the long-term development of the Marcellus Shale.
“The impacts on businesses may change over time due to the cumulative effects of drilling,” he said. “It’s also important to note that higher local business sales do not directly affect local tax collections by counties or most municipalities and school districts. This study does not change the need for continuous, long-term monitoring of how natural-gas development is affecting businesses, residents, communities and the environment.”
“Local Business Impacts of Marcellus Shale Development: The Experience in Bradford and Washington Counties, 2010” can be found at http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/ee0005.pdf online. Alternatively, one free copy of this publication can be obtained by Pennsylvania residents from the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences Publication Distribution Center, The Pennsylvania State University, 112 Agricultural Administration Building, University Park, PA 16802-2602; telephone: 814-865-6713; fax: 814-863-5560; or email, at AgPubsDist@psu.edu.
For out-of-state or bulk orders, contact the Publication Distribution Center.
Susquehanna River Basin Commission faces difficult balancing act
http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2011/05/susquehanna_river_basin_commis.html
Published: Sunday, May 22, 2011, 4:00 AM
By Patriot-News Op-Ed
While news that a modern-day gold rush is in full bloom this spring in the natural gas-rich Marcellus Shale region would surprise only a hermit, the question remains: Is hydraulic fracturing — a method of extracting natural gas from the shale — turning into yet another rape of the landscape?
Are Pennsylvania’s environmental guardians up to the task or, as some critics claim, are they just a hapless 21st-century band of Keystone Kops?
I believe the Susquehanna River Basin Commission is tackling the issue head-on. Its executive director through nearly half the agency’s 40-year history, Paul O. Swartz, and regulators are protecting our water resources, striking a reasonable balance between environmental needs and the state’s booming natural gas industry.
Just last week the SRBC came out strongly against some findings in a report by American Rivers, a national environmental group. The commission disagrees, for many reasons, with American Rivers’ call for the commission to impose a moratorium on water withdrawals and use approvals for gas drilling. SRBC believes the state’s regulatory improvements, including well casing, impoundments and other safety standards, will adequately protect water quality and their use and enjoyment by the 4 million-plus residents of the river basin.
“Accidents can still happen,” Swartz allows, “but the improvements are intended to make the industry abide by a higher standard.”
Read more
Many worry about water
http://citizensvoice.com/news/many-worry-about-water-1.1150470#axzz1MzQ9BcoU
By Laura Legere (staff writer)
Published: May 22, 2011
An agreement between the Department of Environmental Protection and Chesapeake Energy to address methane seeping into water wells in Bradford County has left some affected residents wondering how and if the deal will help fix their tainted water.
The consent order issued May 16 accompanied a $700,000 fine and $200,000 voluntary payment by Chesapeake for allowing methane trapped in shallow rock formations to leak into drinking water aquifers as it drilled at least six sets of wells into the Marcellus Shale last year.
Sixteen families were identified in the order as having water wells directly impacted by the disturbed methane. Although the order outlines steps the driller must take to monitor and address the contamination, the residents said they have not been told what to expect.
“We don’t know if it is fixable,” said Michael Phillips, one of a cluster of affected residents on Paradise Road in Terry Township. Chesapeake tried unsuccessfully to drill the family a new well and then installed a temporary water-treatment system in a shed in the backyard. Private water tests showed contaminants remained despite the system, he said, so the family is relying on a large plastic water tank, or buffalo, for drinking and cooking.
Read more
Cancer cases raise worry in Pittston neighborhood
http://citizensvoice.com/news/cancer-cases-raise-worry-in-pittston-neighborhood-1.1149970#axzz1MzQ9BcoU
By Andrew Staub (Staff Writer)
Published: May 21, 2011
It seems everybody who lives near Chuck Meninchini is sick.
The radius of disease circles Mill Street and Carroll Street in Pittston, Meninchini’s hometown.
In a one-block radius on the streets five people have brain cancer, Meninchini said. And there’s more. Fifteen people in the area, Meninchini said, suffer from esophageal cancer.
“How rare is that?” he said.
All told, more than 80 families include somebody who is battling cancer, Meninchini said. He’s one of them, diagnosed with lymphoma in February.
Meninchini believes there’s a connection. Namely, the Butler Mine Tunnel. It was built before the 1930s to provide mine drainage for the maze of underground coal mines that run under the small city, but eventually became an illegal dumping ground for millions of gallons of oil waste collected by a nearby service station.
The Butler Mine Tunnel runs near Meninchini’s homes on 200 Carroll St., eventually discharging into the Susquehanna River. Meninchini believes whole-heartedly the sludge that has built up below caused his cancer and the diseases of those around him.
“You’re talking two streets. It doesn’t make sense to me,” Meninchini said. “If something wasn’t going on, prove me different. Show me where it’s coming from.”
Meninchini’s doctor, he said, told him exposure to benzene caused his cancer.
According to records from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the Pittston Mine Tunnel spewed an oily discharge into the Susquehanna River on July 30, 1979. Contaminants from the oil slick stretched from shoreline to shoreline, the records indicate, and drifted 60 miles downstream to Danville.
Responding to the emergency, the EPA installed booms on the river and collected 160,000 gallons of oil waste. The booms also collected 13,000 pounds of dichlorobenzene, a chemical used to make herbicides, insecticides, medicine and dyes, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry.
The particular type of dichlorobenzene found in the river has not been tested to see if it can cause cancer, according to the agency. Another type of the chemical, though, “could play a role in the development of cancer in humans, but we do not definitely know this,” the agency concluded in its public health statement about dichlorobenzene.
In 1985, after heavy rains associated with Hurricane Gloria, the Butler Mine Tunnel spewed another 100,000 gallons of oily waste into the river and prompted another boom cleanup.
While the EPA has not connected the rash of cancer to the Butler Mine Tunnel, Meninchini wonders if chemicals eventually worked their way into the soil and into the vegetables people ate, he said. He wonders if he was exposed to any chemicals while working as a plumber in the city.
Answers – which Meninchini said have been tough to extract from government officials – might come next week.
State and federal officials have scheduled an open house for Tuesday to discuss the Butler Mine Tunnel. Representatives from the EPA, the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, among others, will attend the event at the Martin L. Mattei Middle School on New Street in Pittston.
The open house runs from 4 to 6 p.m. with a presentation and follow-up session afterwards. Postcards detailing the event were mailed to about 1,500 homes in the vicinity of the tunnel, and Meninchini expects plenty of residents to show up. A woman from Connecticut, he said, even called him about it.
Until then, Meninchini continues to fight his cancer. The lymphoma, which originally riddled his stomach, pancreas, liver and spleen, has been beaten back in some places, but Meninchini said he was recently diagnosed with colon cancer and faces surgery.
Meninchini can’t work anymore, and he’s blown through his savings and cashed in his 401(k) to fund the thousands of dollars of medical expenses not covered by insurance.
Meninchini doesn’t want to get rich by publicizing the cancer outbreak – he just wants people’s health expenses financed, he said.
This week, friends and family have organized a “night-at-the-races” fundraiser to offset some of Meninchini’s health care costs – it runs from 2 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Italian Citizens Club in Pittston and includes food, drink and a wager.
An EPA official who oversees the Butler Mine Tunnel did not return a phone call seeking comment.
astaub@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2052
Tamaqua properties illegally discharging into Wabash Creek
http://www.tnonline.com/node/197237
Reported on Friday, May 20, 2011
By LIZ PINKEY tneditor@tnonline.com
Fifty six properties in the borough of Tamaqua have been identified as having active or once active illegal sewer connections to the Wabash Creek.
Those that were once active may need further investigation to determine if they will need to be addressed. Council president Micah Gursky announced the findings of a recent study at this week’s borough council meeting, stating that property owners have already been notified by certified mail.
“As sad as it is that we have illegal discharge, it’s nice to see a list finally verifying who is illegally connected,” said Gursky. “There have always been rumors.”
The list is now available to the general public and can be viewed at the borough building.
“This is just the beginning,” said Gursky. “There are a lot of folks who have to connect and a lot of work to be done over the next several months to connect them.”
The majority of the properties are located along S. Lehigh, W. Broad, Rowe, S. Railroad and Nescopec streets. Gursky added that
The borough has until August to address the problems to avoid further issues with DEP, which has already cited the borough for the illegal discharge. Property owners have 60 days to connect to the sewage system.
Borough manager Kevin Steigerwalt asked borough residents for their continued cooperation in the matter.
“So far, the people have have contacted us with questions have been very cooperative. We appreciate that,” he said.
The borough does have a revolving loan program that could be available to property owners who need financial assistance to have the work completed. More information on that program is available from the borough.
Chemical industry looking to expand in Pennsylvania because of Marcellus Shale
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/05/chemical_industry_looking_to_e.html
Published: Friday, May 20, 2011, 1:55 PM Updated: Friday, May 20, 2011, 6:00 PM
By DONALD GILLILAND, The Patriot-News
The chemical industry — newly optimistic because of natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale — is looking at Pennsylvania as a venue for expansion.
Secretary of Community and Economic Development Alan Walker said Friday morning that “Three very large international chemical companies came to us and expressed interest in billion-dollar-plus investments in Pennsylvania.”
“We really have to focus on how we attract them,” he said.
Walker made the comments during the meeting of the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission.
Walker also said there is “a need for an ammonium nitrate plant in Pennsylvania” because the two main ingredients are natural gas and water, both of which Pennsylvania has in great supply. Ammonium nitrate is an ingredient in agricultural fertilizer, which is used in huge quantities in the state.
Walker said his assistant Ashe Khare is on “a national search” to find a manufacturer to set up shop in the commonwealth.
Walker wasn’t the only state official at the meeting to drop tantalizing bits of news.
Secretary of Conservation and Natural Resources Richard Allan announced that his department was preparing a plan to replace its aging fleet of trucks with a fleet powered by natural gas.
Republican legislators have introduced a series of bills aimed at promoting the conversion of large parts of the transportation sector to natural gas.
Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley said, “We need to look beyond drilling. We must not only extract the gas in Pennsylvania, we must use the gas in Pennsylvania.”
The idea has the backing of environmental groups like PennFuture because heavy diesel truck traffic is one of the biggest contributors to air pollution in the midstate. Natural gas emits far fewer pollutants than diesel and gasoline.
Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group representing the top 20 drilling companies in the state, said the benefits of converting transportation to natural gas “accrues most to our cities” where vehicular air pollution is worst. In that way, she said, places like Philadelphia — outside the Marcellus region — stand to benefit from its development.
Klaber also addressed the issue of gas migration into private water wells, calling it a serious and perplexing issue.
No other topic has so seriously damaged the industry’s reputation, as evidenced by the movie “Gasland,” which uses gas migration as the starting point for a host of other — largely unfounded — claims of pollution.
State regulators have fined drilling companies for causing gas to migrate into private wells, the most recent and serious fine — more than $1 million — being just last week.
Yet, in the northern tier where most of the gas migration has occurred, there is naturally occurring methane in the water supply. Companies have argued with regulators — at varying degrees of acrimony — over the extent to which their operations have caused or exacerbated the problem.
Klaber said her member companies have begun testing private water wells in the area before drilling, to establish a baseline. The problem is when they discover polluted wells — before any drilling begins — it’s the industry that has to go knock on the door and inform the citizens.
Klaber noted that Pennsylvania does not regulate or set standards for drilling private water wells, many of which are polluted well before the gas industry arrives.
Nicholas DeBenedictis, former Environmental Resources Secretary under Gov. Dick Thornburgh and current CEO of the water supply company Aqua America Inc., said his company and others have done comprehensive testing and found no contamination from drilling.
Dr. Terry Engelder, PennState geologist credited with advancing the exploration of the Marcellus, said the recent study from Duke University lends additional support to the water companies’ results: It found zero evidence that fracking fluids had contaminated the water supply.
Engelder said the reason is very simple: The fracking occurs about a mile below the aquifer and “Water does not flow uphill.”