ALERT: Fracking Chemicals Found in Drinking Water

For years, the American public has been told that fracking is a completely safe method of extracting gas. Despite the use of dangerous and carcinogenic chemicals to facilitate the process, fracking companies insisted that the process took place so far below the earth that there was no way the chemicals would ever enter the drinking supply.

An analysis of drinking water in Bradford County, PA has proven that this is not the case.

Samples from three homes have revealed traces of Marcellus Shale drilling fluids according to a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers believe that the leak into the homeowners’ well water was caused by “a lack of integrity in the drill wells.”

Anywhere between two to eight million gallons of water are required to frack a well. Fracking is such a toxic practice that the water used in the process is severely contaminated. There are no processes currently in place which can remove the cocktail of hazardous chemicals from the water used.

When these chemicals enter drinking water, they have the potential to have serious, negative impacts on the people, environment, and animals that depend on clean water to support life.

Learn more about what fracking is, how it works, and the risks associated with the process in this video.

Fracking is clearly not the long-term solution to our energy needs. Fracking companies, however, disagree. Despite the numerous health and environmental concerns, fracking continues to be an increasingly prevalent way of extracting natural gas.