Baseline Water Testing Southwestern Pennsylvania

The Need for the Water Research Center and Help for Private Well Owners in 

Southwestern Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, and other states.

Why I do the work I do .
At the Water-Research.net - we get about 500 to 1500 unique visitors per day, but very few emails.  In most cases, private well owners find the information they need for free. 

Well Today I Received the following:

"I recently had my water tested at our lake cabin.  It has been in the family for decades.  The cabin is in the woods near a small lake.  The water started to develop a taste and now that water seems to have a lot of gas bubbles.  We have one of the deepest wells at the lake.  The well is 400 feet deep.  Here is the data:

pH - 8.75

Conductivity - 1875 us/cm

Methane - 17.8 mg/L

Ethane - < 0.02 mg/L

Propane - < 0.01 mg/L

Any thoughts?

Signed P

Well P,
1. Thanks for supporting the citizens groundwater and surfacewater database.
2. Since you say you have no previous water quality data, it is difficult to really compare, but based on the data there appears to be a change in the quality.  Why ? Not sure.
3. The high pH, conductivity, and high gas suggests that this could be in issue related to saline water migration.
4. I would recommend the following
a. Go to this website and read the information on methane gas and private wells .  Based on the ratio of methane to ethane - I would suspect the source is biogenic gas, but more testing would be needed.

b. Contact the PADEPNote:  Any time the level of methane is at or greater than 7 mg/L - Contact- PADEP and the Local Natural Gas Company in Your Area – Under Oil and Gas Law- Section 78.89 – “When an operator or owner is notified of or otherwise made aware of a POTENTIAL natural gas migration incident, the operator shall immediately conduct an investigation of the incident”.

c. Get a more comprehensive water test - if you have no baseline testing and not much money consider conducting an informational water test to screen the sample or speak to your neighbors and see if they have any baseline data.  When you decide the direction you are going to proceed - let me know.  I can provide more guidance.

d. I checked the citizen database -I am sorry to say we do not have much data for your area -  but please let people know about the citizen groundwater database it is easy to submit data to the database and it is FREE.

e. Because of the high conductivity, I can only suspected that there are elevated levels of barium and other constituents in the water.  It may be advisable to use bottled water for drinking until you get more information.

Again - I hope this helps.
We need to work as a Community

Mr. Brian Oram, PG

PS- New Educational Guide for Private Well Owners in Pennsylvania.

baseline water testing pennsylvania, natural gas development, private wells lake community, southwestern pennsylvania, wyoming county, natural gas, southwestern pennsylvania, pennsylvania groundwater quality

Water Well Testing Harveys Lake Pennsylvania and Q&A Session Offered

Water Well Tests and Q&A Session Offered

A comprehensive package of drinking water tests will be offered once again this summer at a deeply discounted price to Harveys Lake residents  ( Haveys Lake, Luzerne Wyoming County, PA) by the Water Research Center and National Testing Laboratories, Ltd. together with the Harveys Lake EAC.

The tests will be conducted on Saturday morning, July 21.  On Saturday morning, August 4, a free follow-up Q&A session on water well systems and non-point source pollution issues will be held.  The Q&A session is open to all residents, not just those testing their wells.

The cost of this year’s water well test package will rise to $95 (compared to a retail value of more than $225).  Residents' water will be tested for Alkalinity (Total as CaCO3), Chloride, Fluoride, Hardness, Nitrate as N, Orthophosphate, pH (Standard Units), Sulfate, Total Dissolved Solids, Turbidity (Turbidity Units), Total Coliform with e. coli check, Aluminum, Arsenic, Barium, Cadmium, Calcium, Chromium, Copper, Iron, Lead, Magnesium, Manganese, Mercury, Nickel, Potassium, Selenium, Silica, Silver, Sodium and Zinc.  This includes some key Marcellus Shale Indicators.

Interested residents should register with Denise, at 570-639-1042. Participants can pick up water sampling kits at the Harveys Lake Borough Building between July 9 and 21.  Water samples must be dropped off between 10am and noon on July 21 at the Borough Building’s meeting room, where scientists will perform certain tests immediately.  Confidential final test results will be mailed to participants directly from the Water Research Center within two weeks of the testing date.  Payment in full for the testing is due on July 21.

The well water and non-point source pollution Q&A session will be conducted at 10AM on August 4 by Brian Oram, a professional geologist and water well expert who has run the testing programs here at Harveys Lake for many years.  Brian will make an informative presentation and then take questions from the public.  Brian’s past Q&A sessions here at the lake have been greatly appreciated by all attendees- They are fact based and provide action items to correct and evaluate problems.

Important Note: This program’s test results do not meet the requirements of a legal baseline water well test.  However, these tests remain a valuable and cost-effective opportunity for homeowners to monitor the safety of their drinking water.  If legal baseline testing is needed or would like to schedule a community information meeting with Q/A, please contact Mr. Brian Oram, PG at 570-335-1947 or go to http://www.bfenvironmental.com/natural-gas-exploration.php.

Review of Well Water from Dimock - A lot to learn and use to protect Private Well Owners in PA

Free Assistance to PA Residents
The Citizen Groundwater Surfacewater Database
Help to Track Change in Pennsylvania ((FREE -(NEW Web-Portal)

Private Well Owner - Watershed Survey
Possible Free Radon in Water Testing (FREE -(NEW Web-Portal)

New Fact Sheet on Methane Gas Migration (NEW Web-Portal)

Why a regional water quality database is needed in PA ?

Why is a regional water quality database needed?
What is the importance of coupling the citizen monitoring efforts?

For me this is the first time that citizens have conducted or obtained water quality data related to groundwater and surfacewater that has been collected in a manner that insures the reliability of the data and provides a comprehensive evaluation of the inorganic, organic, and bacterial quality of the water. 

This type of data has never existed at this scale in Pennsylvania.  The PADEP has only data for community water supply or regulated systems, but private wells are not regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act.  The information that is in the hands of the individual citizen could be compiled into a resource that will benefit the local community, watershed, township, county, and state. 

The database is confidential - no name, address, phone, number, or direct locational information is contained with in the database.  The raw database does not an approximate location and zip code for the site, but the raw data will never be published.

Please consider supporting this Community Effort.   To support this effort, please do the following:

1. Complete an Information Form and submit it along with your data to brian.oram@wilkes.edu or bfenviro@ptd.net.

2. Please send a copy of the data, chain-of-custody sheet, and any documentation related to the sampling.

3. If this is confusing, please consider hosting a community meeting.  We would love to attend to speak about this effort and make it easier for citizens to submit their data.

To thank you for your support, we will do the following:

1. Review your data and provide you suggested action items - to help explain and if necessary provide guidance on fixing the problem.  This is one and one assistance - not an online computer software tool.  This is done for free by Mr. Brian Oram, PG at B.F. Environmental Consultants Inc.

2. Free Booklet from written by Mr. Brian Oram and two other professional geologists.
3. Happy to attend a community meeting to explain regional data.

4. Online list of suggested water quality parameters.  This listing is slightly different and not as up-to-date as the recommend parameter list by Mr. Brian Oram.

Thanks for your time

Please support the Citizens Groundwater and Surfacewater Database in PA

Independent Water Testing and Baseline Groundwater Testing State Certified Laboratories in Northeastern Pennsylvania - Columbia, Luzerne, Lackawanna, Wyoming

The following is a short listing of state or national certified testing laboratories in our region. If you want you can find in this blog a listing of all of the laboratories in the state.

First of all what is baseline testing and some details.

Because of the specifics concerns with respect to the Marcellus Shale, the citizens are recognizing the importance of documenting the baseline quality of their drinking water and recreational water sources. The primary concern is that many professionals are recommending baseline analysis that either provide a very broad range of parameters that are not specific enough to target the Marcellus Shale or a baseline analysis that targets only the potential impacts related to the develop of natural gas and in some cases there are companies with very little experience in environmental consulting.


From the citizens perspective - It is my professional opinion, the baseline analysis needs to take into consideration the following:
a. The existing geological conditions that may affect water quality for the region or area.

b. The existing land-use or activities occurring within the recharge zone for the well or spring or watershed area for the surfacewater resource.

c. Potential sources of contaminants from proposed developments that target the various phases of the development, i.e., drilling / drilling muds, intermixing of freshwater with saline and brine water, interception of shallow gas deposits, and management of the drilling pad.

d. The existing quality of your water and type of water source.

Of these 4 items, I believe that if the professional you are considering hiring does not ask you questions about your well and your current water quality you will not be establishing an affective baseline. In addition, the professional providing this information should not be just reading off a list of recommendations by some third party, but have solid understanding of earth sciences, hydrology, well drilling, and groundwater. Remember - you are establishing a "legal" baseline that may need to address a multitude of issues not just Marcellus Shale Drilling or Hydrofracing.

Establishing a baseline - the following questions should be asked and used in the decision making process.
1. Where are you located and What is the type of water source?

2. If it is a well, what is the depth of the well, static water level, and depth of casing?

3. Does the water system have an existing treatment system? If yes, why?

4. Does the water quality change when there is a heavy rain or snow melt?

5. Has it been tested in the past?

6. Are there any problems or issues? Such as: discolored water, metallic taste, turbidity, staining, blue-green staining, etc

7. This water source supports what type of use? Single-family home, house and small farm, etc.

8. What is the size of your parcel?

9. What is the existing and past use of your parcel?

10. What is the land-use surrounding and upgradient of this source?
If the person conducting your baseline analysis - is not asking you these questions - he/she may not be providing you the help you need.

Before we get into more detail - I you do not contact a certified laboratory for guidance - then at least call a professional.  This should be a licensed water or wastewater operator or other licensed professional in the state.  There are many persons making a lot of claims, but what is there experience in the profession, do not hirer someone that basically has not professional background in the subject.  Personally - I have had retired or displaced nurserys, salesman, and many others ask me to train.  This is not appropriate and will cause you to make a bad decision.

I read on other sites that there are 4 componets to a legally defensible baseline water test.  Here they are:

1. The test must be conducted by an independent 3rd party.
2. Training and protocols must be in place
3. There must be an identifiable chain of custody
4. The test must be conducted by a Pennsylvania State Certified Laboratory.

Guess What ?
These are wrong!
This is the right concept.

To adequately meet your needs - you must establish a baseline that does the following:

1. Addresses the existing condition of the groundwater source including volume and quality based on the existing or proposed usage and surrounding conditions.  Therefore, a person with a quarry near their home and a spring - may need a different set a parameters than a person living in the middle of a 100+ acre forest.
(Pick the right parameters that meet YOUR budget, YOUR Need, and relates to YOUR situation - One package does not fit ALL).

2. Characterize your well - static and dynamic water level- measure flow or rate - calculate specific capacity.

3. Work with a "certified laboratory" using their technician or a technician that they approve or authorize.

4. The laboratory could be PADEP approve or Nationally Accredited and the laboratory must be certified for the specific methods or process your sample in cooperation with another laboratory that is certified for the necessary methods.

You can contact me at
http://www.bfenvironmental.com/
Over 20 years experience in geology, hydrology, and water quality related issues in Northeastern PA; expert witness, licensed water well driller, soil scientist, and much more.

The State Certified Laboratories that serve Northeastern PA are (partial list):
Aqua-Tech Lab, Mountaintop, PA 868-5346
Benchmark Analytical, East Stroudsburg, PA, 421-5122
Kirby Health Center, Wilkes-Barre, PA 822-4278
Friend Lab Inc., Waverly, NY, 607-565-2893
Northeastern Environmental Labs, Scranton, PA, 348-0775
Quantum Labs in Dickson City, PA 570-489-6964
Hawk Mountain Labs 570-455-6011 (Hazle Township, PA)
Seewald Laboratories 570.326.4001 ( Williamsport, PA)
(always willing to update)

Do not be fooled - there are a number of "lab" websites.  When you look deep enough- these are actually just collectors with little expertise in groundwater, water chemistry, and are not likely worth the money.

Natural Gas Drilling Impacts Private Wells - Also Shows Weakness in Private Well Construction Standards

Back in March 2009, The Times Tribune reported that a natural gas drilling company - i.e., Cabot Oil & Gas Corp - caused methane contamination of a private well in Susquehanna County - Dimock Township.

The article quoted and referenced a PADEP letter dated February 27, 2009 that included that Cabot violated two state laws.

The follow up analysis showed that the methane was coming from a shallow methane producing formation at a depth of 1500 feet and not the Marcellus Shale.

This finding supports to the need to conduct background water quality monitoring of private wells, to install more than one freshwater casing, and to establish construction standards for private wells.

The public needs to take action to protect groundwater and surfacewater quality. This can be done by getting informed and educated, helping to establish private well construction standards, and conducting background water quality monitoring.

For information on training opportunities or background testing, please visit
http://www.bfenvironmental.com


To read the full article - go to
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2216875//