Potential Groundwater Vulnerability to Spills Associated with Unconventional Oil and Gas Development Across the Marcellus Region

This report, available for download below, presents a study led by James E. Saiers at Yale University, with co-principal investigators Mario Soriano Jr., Joshua Warren, and Reed Maxwell, and their colleagues. This study provides a modeling approach to estimate groundwater vulnerability of well water to potential contamination from spills associated with unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) in the Marcellus region.

Key takeaways:

• The team found that up to 122,000 people who rely on domestic water wells live in locations where groundwater is vulnerable to such contamination.
• The team collected data on documented UOGD spills in the region and well water chemistry. They evaluated associations between their estimates of vulnerability of well water and the occurrence of chemical fingerprints resembling UOGD-produced waters in groundwater-supplied well water samples.
• The team found higher odds of detecting chemical fingerprints of UOGD in well water samples in areas that were classified as vulnerable to documented spills from well pads. This finding suggests that domestic water wells might be vulnerable to potential chemical contamination from UOGD.
• This study provides an important contribution to our knowledge of the locations of groundwater-supplied wells most vulnerable to UOGD spills. The modeling framework and datasets can inform decision-making related to water quality and UOGD, including potential setback distances from drinking water sources and spill investigation.