Near Fracking Center, Drinking Water Has More Chemicals and Carcinogens

"One of the largest analyses of water quality of aquifers near fracking sites examined samples from 550 wells across the Barnett Shale near Dallas."

"Drinking water wells in Texas counties that are home to intensive hydraulic fracturing operations contain elevated levels of more than two dozen metals and chemicals, including carcinogens, according to a new study in Environmental Science & Technology.

The study is based on samples from 550 wells across the Barnett Shale natural gas formation in the Dallas area; it is one of the largest independent analyses of water quality to date of aquifers near fracking sites. Researchers found volatile organic compounds such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene, or BTEX, in more than two-thirds of the wells sampled. Benzene is a carcinogen, and the other compounds can damage the nervous system. An industrial solvent called dichloromethane, or DCM, was found in 121 samples, or more than 20 percent of the wells.

The chemicals and some of the metals are commonly found in fracking fluid––and in produced water that comes up the well-bore with natural gas, according to the authors, many of them from the University of Texas at Arlington. The paper noted that its findings "do not necessarily identify" fracking-related activities as the source of the contamination."

Neela Banerjee reports for InsideClimate News June 19, 2015.