One Test is Worth a Thousand Expert Opinions---Is Your Drinking Water Safe?

We have all heard the relatively new word "fracking", but few understand what it is or why it threatens the safety of the water you drink and cook with, among numerous other daily activities. Safe water, i.e. water that can be consumed without danger of bio-accumulation of toxins and carcinogens in you body, is critical to sustaining your life.Our man-altered environment is laden with unnatural chemicals many of which are harmful and can be deadly. Many of these man-made chemical substances are commonly used for yard and home maintenance and industrial purposes. Regulation of the use of harmful chemicals is lax and often lacking altogether. Water quality reports issued annually by municipal water operators are only required to monitor and report on about 110 of more than 10,000 man made dangerous chemicals that are present in air, land, and water in our nation. The development and use of man made toxic chemical has increased exponentially following the invention of PCB's about 1929. The National Institute of Health and Environmental Protection Agency issue annual reports that list many but not all toxic and carcinogenic chemicals that are detected. The cost of comprehensive testing for all unnatural toxic chemical substances would require budgeting many trillions of dollars annually, and consequently are ignored or outright opposed federal, state, and local government. Removal by advanced treatment technology is feasible but very expensive. Therefore lacking effective regulations, detection standards, and  special interest opposition to any regulations or testing everyone in our nation who consumes municipally treated  or private well water are at risk of being or becoming contaminated with dangerous and potentially life-threatening man made chemical substances.

This risk is now greater than ever before because of the introduction of fracking technology used to recover natural gas and oil from deep-underground reserves found in certain types of geological  shale. Natural gas (methane), and oil have been discovered locked in interstitial voids in certain types of shale and has ignited a literal gold rush to recover these valuable source of fossil fuel energy. Advanced drilling technology allows deep wells to be vertically and horizontally arranged to enable the release and capture of fossil fuels that were previously unrecoverable. Met many uses industrially, commercially, and for the ordinary consumer and this new recovery process has stimulated vast recovery efforts wherever adequate supplies and potential prices justify the recovery costs. That seems to be the case wherever shale gas or oil is found and now throughout our nation methane and oil mining is beginning to boom using "fracking" technology. The practice is spreading worldwide.

The word "fracking" is an acronym for cracking/fracturing that along with drilling both vertical and horizontal shafts.These shafts are subsequently concrete lined for viaducts to introduce pressurized blends of water, quartz sand, and organic chemicals (referred to as fracking slurries or fluids) into the compact shale/gas formations. These fracking slurries that are pumped into the concrete viaducts under pressure generate new cracks in the shale that extend vertically to allow methane gas to escape to the earth's surface where it is accessible for storage, distribution, purification and use. Fracking slurries contain harmful organic chemicals that greatly reduce the pressure needed to induce vertical cracks in the shale to release the interstitial methane or oil. The fracking process becames economically viable as a result.

Conceptually the fracking process seems innocuous and harmless, but the opposite is true when the actual complex earth structures are taken into account. As holes are drilled to establish the viaducts for slurries, they invariably intersect and expose underground aquifers that are sources for drinking water used throughout our nation. Approximately 80% of all drinking water in the USA is derived from aquifers, and it is often recycled after first use for secondary or tertiary non-potable applications such as irrigation for certain agricultural uses and industrial processes. Eventually almost all toxic and carcinogenic chemicals return to the water cycle as contaminated rain, soil, and surface water and to underground aquifers. Certain toxic and carcinogenic chemicals that do not decompose nor are removable using present water treatment technology are consequently retreated and reused as if harmless when in fact they are harmful. Water used in fracking slurries will contain toxic chemicals that are recycled and reused after municipal treatment that will not remove dangerous organic chemicals. This is the case for fracking chemicals that are constituents constituents in the essential crack-inducing slurries.

The chemical formulation of fracking slurries are not revealed by corporations using fracking processes and are considered proprietary trade secret information. The only certain way to determine their "secret" is to conduct tests before and after fracking operations, and to do so impartially and comprehensively. Many so-called expert opinions have been given by self-interested parties but so far no information has been disclosed to the public by any of these paid talking experts. Lacking tangible data, the public is told by corporations using fracking and their political parasites water water quality is not endangered. Where is the proof? Nowhere in sight, because tests and results, if accomplished, have not been revealed. There have been, however numerous anecdotal reports that tap water in private homes nearby fracking operations is foul tasting that sometimes ignites with a match. Very limited testing has revealed the presence of benzene (a known human carcinogen) and 2 Butoxyethanol  (suspected human carcinogen) in well water in close proximity to fracking operations. 

During my professional career as a Research Director, VP, and research engineer I routinely adhered to what I consider the irrefutable  research parable: "One Test is Worth a Thousand Expert Opinions". The so-called corporate experts and their political money bags claim that their is nothing to be concerned about fracking slurries. I take this to mean "beware". We all must demand comprehensive testing before widespread fracking is allowed. The human disaster that could result if we ignore this need would be cataclysmic as the water we drink becomes more toxic and carcinogenic.. Speak out and demand action now. Demand comprehensive testing.

Reference: "A Drinker's Guide to Pure Water---Is Your Water Safe", iUniverse Inc., by Zalman P. Saperstein, 2006