Citizens Unite – Compile Your Water Quality Data
(Note: Brian Oram is a charter member of the Carbon County Groundwater Guardians.)
Citizens – there are more private wells than public water supplies in Pennsylvania. In many regions, the natural gas companies have conducted baseline testing and have returned the data to you. The problem is that the industry has the data and can easily compile, but for citizens they are lacking an explanation of the data and it is not being compiled. We need to work together to protect our groundwater data.
To help – send NO Money – All that is being asked is as follows:
1. Send a copy of your water quality data or host a community meeting where the water quality data could be compiled.
To request a community meeting or presentation on “Getting the Waters Tested- The Marcellus Shale Factor” or the “Community Groundwater / Surfacewater Database” – email brian.oram@wilkes.edu or bfenviro@ptd.net. Please put Citizen Database in Subject.
2. Release the data to the Citizens Groundwater / Surfacewater Database. Here is the information sheet. The database will only include the data and No personal information.
3. Email the information to the addresses above or send a hardcopy to
Mr. Brian Oram, PG
Citizen Outreach Program
15 Hillcrest Drive
Dallas, PA 18612
4. You get a review of your data for free and you can be sure your data will help track water quality change in the region.
5. Private Well Owner Survey – Funded by Mr. Brian Oram. Please participate – the survey results in be published in the New Free Guidebook for Private Well Owners
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NMG6RQ3
This survey is part of the efforts of Mr. Brian Oram, Professional Geologist, and owner of B.F. Environmental Consultants Inc to help educate and inform the community. The survey will not be published and all information is confidential. Part of this survey will be used to create a new booklet that helps educate private well owners and policy makers in our community. This survey is not funded by any outside company or organization and solely funded by Mr. Brian Oram.
Please act now.
Thanks for your consideration
Brian Oram, Professional Geologist, Soils Scientist, Licensed Well Driller
My Blog Site – http://pennsylvania-solutions.blogspot.com
Free Outreach to Private Well Owners – http://www.water-research.net
Well water users will get financial aid
Seminars will provide low interest loan information to rural households.
Rural household owners using well water – pull out your calendars and red pens. Four seminars are planned to introduce a Household Water Well Assistance Program.
Brian Oram, Wilkes University professor and Director of the Center for Environmental Quality, said the goal of the seminars is to educate the public.
The Pocono Northeast Resource Conservation and Development Council, a nonprofit organization, has acquired $130,000 in grant money and will lend it out as low interest loans to low- and moderate-income households to repair and improve their quality of well water.
A seminar is scheduled from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on March 21 at the Lake Township Municipal building. Other seminars are scheduled for today at the Monroe County Conservation District, Stroudsburg; March 22 at the Columbia County AG Center, Bloomsburg; and March 23 at the Wayne County Park Street Complex, Honesdale.
Anyone unable to attend any of the meetings can obtain information by contacting the Pocono Northeast Resource Conservation and Development Council, Mayfield, by calling 570-282-8732, extension 4, e-mailing to sue@pnercd.org, or visiting the RC & D website www.pnesolutions.org.
RC & D chairman Brian Oram said the goal of the seminars is to educate the public on what minerals and their amounts are normally found in well water, private well and drinking water issues, and the specifics of the RC & D Household Well Water Program.
The terms of the loan are simple. Well water home owners must live in a rural area with an average of fewer than 274 people per square mile, proof of ownership and full-time residence, must qualify as low-to-moderate income, well water must already be tested to show existing problems, and applicants must prove ability to repay the loan.
According to the guidelines of the RC & D, low income in Luzerne County starts at $31,700 for one person to $52,550 for six people in one household. A chart is available at the RC & D website.
Oram, a geology professor and laboratory manager for the Center of Environmental Quality at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, said loans will not exceed $11,000, will have 1 percent interest, and recipients will have a maximum of 20 years to repay.
Applications will be accepted starting March 1. Oram said beginning April 25, applications will be reviewed every two weeks.
Some of the uses of the loan would include drilling a new well for an existing home, and closing off an old well. Oram said the loan would not cover drilling a well for new construction, water testing, to pay for home plumbing systems, or for a home sewer or septic systems.
In his 20 years of experience in studying area water supplies, Oram found the biggest well water problems involve bacteria and solids. He said unlike reservoir water which is tested daily, well water users do not test their water frequently.
“The Environmental Protection Agency advises well water should be tested annually,” he said.
Lately, rural homeowners have been testing their well water, due to the invading Marcellus Shale natural gas industry. Hidden pre-existing quality problems are being found. The loan could help them increase the quality of their water, Oram said.
“Almost everybody uses well water,” Oram said. “Thirty percent of reservoir water comes from ground water. We all have a vested interest in maintaining quality ground water.”
EILEEN GODIN Times Leader Correspondent
March 14, 2011
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Well_water_users_will_get_financial_aid_03-14-2011.html
Marcellus Shale Program set for Center Carbon Environmental Education Center, Carbon County PA
http://marcellusprotest.org/node/596
Marcellus Shale Program set for Center Carbon Environmental Education Center, Carbon County PA
March 30, 2011 – 6:00pm
The Carbon County Environmental Education Center [ http://www.carboneec.org/ ] is planning a program on Marcellus shale basics for the general public on Wednesday, March 30th, at 6:00 pm.
“Getting the Waters Tested: The Marcellus Shale Factor” will be presented by Brian Oram, a licensed Professional Geologist. Oram teaches at Wilkes University [ http://www.wilkes.edu/water ] and is a volunteer with the Carbon County Groundwater Guardians [ http://carbonwaters.org/ ]. He is familiar with water issues in our area, and plans to explain the basics of Marcellus shale, natural gas drilling, groundwater, and related issues- Free Booklet for Private Well Owner (download your pdf today !).
[ http://wilkes.edu/Include/WaterResearch/PDFs/Waterbooklet070610.pdf ]
For more information or to register, call (570) 645-8597. CCEEC is located just outside Jim Thorpe, at the west end of Mauch Chunk Lake Park along Lentz Trail.
Carbon County Environmental Education Center
151 East White Bear Drive
Summit Hill, PA 18250
United States
Phone: (570) 645-8597
See map: Google Maps [ http://maps.google.com/?q=151+East+White+Bear+Drive%2C+Summit+Hill%2C+PA%2C+18250%2C+us ]
Wilkes creates water quality database
http://citizensvoice.com/news/wilkes-creates-water-quality-database-1.955949
Wilkes creates water quality database
BY ELIZABETH SKRAPITS (STAFF WRITER)
Published: August 18, 2010
WILKES-BARRE – Due to natural gas companies’ increasing interest in the Marcellus Shale, Wilkes University’s Center for Environmental Quality is establishing Northeastern Pennsylvania’s first water quality database to determine the condition of groundwater and surface water before drilling activity commences.
Property owners in Luzerne and Columbia counties who have had their private wells tested by state-certified laboratories are invited to contribute the data, which will be collected and used to help pinpoint any changes or trends in water quality.
“We’ll take information from any wells from anywhere,” Brian Redmond said.
Geologists Redmond, Sid Halsor and Brian Oram, who have a combined 100 years of groundwater experience in the region, will manage the database. Oram is director of the Center for Environmental Quality and Redmond and Halsor are professors in the Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences department at Wilkes. They held a press conference Thursday to announce the launch of the database.
Previous water quality tests were limited, said Redmond, who held up a copy of an outdated 1984 study by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Now, with the interest in the Marcellus Shale, the big question is what impact, if any, will natural gas drilling have on the groundwater, “especially with all those lovely private wells,” Redmond said.
He said public water suppliers are required to test for a “long, long list of things” and make the results public. But many homeowners don’t test their wells, he said.
The three geologists stressed the importance of having well testing done before any drilling takes place, in order to establish a baseline of what already is or isn’t in the water.
There are many potential sources of contamination, ranging from bacteria to the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. Methane migration can occur even in areas where there isn’t any natural gas drilling, and Oram said arsenic can be found naturally in groundwater.
Testing can determine where the contaminants come from. For example, if the well water contains a high level of salt, it could be caused by the hydraulic fracturing of a well.
But it could also come from a well so deep it is below sea level, or from road salt, Redmond said. The well should be tested for other things that might indicate the source. An anti-caking agent is usually added to road salt, he said.
To maximize the value of the water test data, a geographic information system will be used for digital maps, Redmond said. If homeowners see elevated levels of things in their well water, they will be able to see if the same parameters are elevated elsewhere – whether it’s isolated or part of a trend, and if it’s a trend, where concentrations are highest, indicating the source, he said.
So far, more than 400 homeowners in Luzerne and Columbia counties, some of whom are in potential drilling areas, have contributed their test results, Halsor said. Oram said the data should be posted on Wilkes’ website by the fall.
Participation is voluntary, and Oram said homeowners’ personal information will be kept confidential; wells will be identified by geographic coordinates and zip codes.
All property owners with wells can contribute their test data, including those who are beyond the distance of natural gas well sites.
“Just because your land is not leased to a gas company doesn’t mean you’re immune to the impact,” Halsor noted.
eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072
Wilkes University to track NEPA well water quality
http://citizensvoice.com/news/wilkes-university-to-track-nepa-well-water-quality-1.946863
Published: August 14, 2010
Wilkes University to track NEPA well water quality
Wilkes University will announce a major initiative to track water quality in residential wells in Northeastern Pennsylvania at a news conference Tuesday. Water quality has become a significant issue in the area with the advent of natural gas drilling related to the Marcellus Shale formation. The project, by the university’s Center for Environmental Quality and its Homeowner Outreach Program, will be the first of its kind to track the quality of water in homeowners’ wells in Luzerne and Columbia counties. Educational outreach programs and materials related to water quality and well testing will be shared at the event.
Water Well Pennsylvania testing offered to residents near drilling site
http://citizensvoice.com/news/well-testing-offered-to-residents-near-drilling-site-1.738187
Well testing offered to residents near drilling site
By Elizabeth Skrapits (Staff Writer)
Published: April 21, 2010
elizabeth skrapits / the citizens’ voice Brian Oram, a hydrogeologist from Wilkes University, talks about local geology Tuesday at the Lehman Township Fire Hall.
LEHMAN TWP. – Residents near a planned natural gas well site in Lake Township were advised Tuesday to take advantage of an opportunity to have their private wells tested.
Encana Oil & Gas USA Inc., in partnership with WhitMar Exploration Co., has selected the Salansky property on Sholtis Road in Lake Township as the site of the second of three proposed exploratory natural gas wells in Luzerne County.
State regulations require natural gas drilling companies to sample drinking water wells within 1,000 feet of their drilling sites, but Encana is testing within a 1-mile radius of its proposed drilling sites.
The companies plan to start drilling at the Lake Township site in July if they can receive the required permissions, Encana Spokeswoman Wendy Wiedenbeck said. The first site to be drilled will be the Buda property behind the Ricketts Glen Hotel in Fairmount Township, in June. Although the companies have required permits to drill at a third site, the Lansberry property in Lehman Township, Wiedenbeck said she is not sure when drilling will start there.
Encana has retained Lancaster-based RETTEW Associates Inc. as a third-party firm to do the sampling, and King-of-Prussia-based TestAmerica as its independent laboratory to do the tests.
Drilling will not start until the water testing is complete, Wiedenbeck said. The reason for the water testing is to establish a baseline, or show what is in peoples’ well water before the drilling starts.
A few residents expressed concern about a similar situation like that in Dimock Township, where 14 families’ wells were invaded by methane. The state Department of Environmental Protection fined Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., made the company cap three wells, and put a stop to more drilling within a 9-square-mile radius of the township for at least a year. The problem is believed to have been caused by a faulty well casing.
Encana will follow protocols so as not to repeat the mistakes of the other well operator, according to Wiedenbeck. Differences include two well casings, the first of which will go at least 50 feet below the nearest known water source.
“I don’t know if there’s anything I can say to erase the concern from another’s mistake,” Wiedenbeck said. “We will take steps so we do not impact the water.”
On questioning, Wiedenbeck admitted Encana may have had an impact to a water source – a stream – while drilling in Colorado, but said state environmental authorities were called immediately and the company implemented a new protocol afterwards.
Although people seem to have a lot of concerns about the hydraulic fracturing process, Wiedenbeck said the biggest concern should be about the well bore instead of 7,000 feet underground: the well bore integrity will prevent fluids and gas from migrating.
If Encana did impact residents’ water, the company would be responsible to make sure they had drinkable, usable water the same as before the incident, she said.
“I think they (Encana) danced around some of the questions, but the water testing is a good idea, at least to give us a baseline,” Jeffrey Chulick, who lives near the Lake Township site, said after the meeting when asked what he thought. “I’m not sure about the natural gas drilling, though.”
After the question-and-answer session with Encana, Wilkes University hydrogeologist Brian Oram gave a presentation on what’s underground and in the water in the region.
Oram, who is not involved with the water sampling or acting as a consultant to Encana – “My role isn’t to swing somebody either way,” as he put it – did advise people to have the water sampling done.
He said in his 20 years of doing baseline water testing in Luzerne County, he found 30 percent to 50 percent of private wells were contaminated. For example, methane was discovered in wells in Tunkhannock and Columbia County even before Marcellus Shale drilling started there, Oram said.
eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072