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Subject: OCCA announces results of
countywide groundwater testing program; full report to be unveiled at Lakes
Festival
Importance: High
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: June 18, 2014
OCCA announces results of countywide
groundwater testing program; full report to be unveiled at Lakes Festival
OTSEGO COUNTY, NY – The results of the
Otsego County Conservation Association’s “What’s In Our Water?” program
are in and, following a detailed analysis, two things are clear. First, the
overall quality of Otsego County’s drinking water is very good. Second, and
perhaps more significant, Otsego County now has a strong, legally defensible
baseline of its water chemistry by which contamination can be detected.
“We look at this as an insurance policy
of sorts,” said OCCA President Vicky M. Lentz. “We knew we had an abundant
supply of good, clean water here. The data now backs this up and the collection
and testing protocols are legally certifiable.”
In August of 2013, Community Science
Institute – contracted by OCCA following a competitive bidding process – began
sampling and testing private and municipal water wells in Otsego County. The
series of 84 tests was completed in mid-November. The results of these
individual tests have already been shared with participating property owners
and municipalities, and now a cumulative analytical report has been compiled
and will soon be released.
The report, prepared by Dr. Les
Hasbargen of SUNY Oneonta’s Catskill Headwaters Research Institute, includes
statistical summaries of the test data and a comparison of chemical parameters
in WIOW-sampled wells with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum
contaminant levels for those parameters.
According to Hasbargen, OCCA “has
established a strong baseline of chemical constituents in local groundwater
that can be used to assess possible contamination by shale gas extraction
and/or other industrial activities.”
Made possible by private donations,
OCCA’s groundwater testing program provided certified baseline testing of
drinking water wells in all 24 of Otsego County’s townships. The goal of OCCA’s
WIOW program was to collect information on drinking water across Otsego County
to provide a defensible chemical baseline against which changes to water
chemistry from contamination can be determined. Wells were tested for a total
of 21 parameters – including signature chemicals typically associated with
hydraulic fracturing for natural gas or other heavy industrial activity – which
may or may not already be present in groundwater.
“Overall, groundwater across the county
is relatively fresh (dilute) with low concentrations of dissolved inorganic
elements and organic compounds,” Hasbargen reported. “The absence of chemical
compounds often used in hydraulic fracturing provides a strong comparative
baseline if such activities do take place in the future in Otsego County.
However, Hasbargen pointed out that
methane was detected in more than half of the wells tested, so its presence is
of limited use for detecting contamination from natural gas extraction
activities.
Above
and beyond a legally defensible baseline, the results of the WIOW program have
additional value. The information collected via this project contributes to
growing countywide and regional water quality databases which will, over time,
lead to a better understanding of groundwater flow systems and mapping of
aquifers.
“Relatively little is known about our
groundwater,” said OCCA Executive Director Darla M. Youngs. “Most private well
owners only test their water when it tastes bad or smells funny. This series of
tests – which, for many, would have been cost prohibitive – helps identify
common chemical components and any concentrations of concern.”
For example, while data supports that
the overall quality of the county’s drinking water is good, 14 percent of wells
tested in the WIOW program showed levels of turbidity (cloudiness) which exceed
the maximum contaminant levels established by USEPA.
“Higher turbidity levels are often
associated with higher levels of disease-causing microorganisms such as
viruses, parasites and some bacteria. Clearly, it is a good idea to filter
water from private wells,” Hasbargen advised.
“Virtually none of the samples contained
detectable quantities of organic molecules associated with gas drilling
activities,” Hasbargen noted, “implying that the natural background is very
low, and so future detection of such molecules is likely to be a result of
human-caused contamination.
“An ensemble of chemical parameters
including total dissolved solids, alkalinity, specific conductance, pH, and
chemical oxygen demand greatly strengthen the perception that Otsego County has
an abundance of high quality drinking water,” he wrote.
The full “Report on Drinking Water
Chemical Analyses for OCCA’s ‘What’s In Our Water?’ Campaign” will be
unveiled and made available to the public at the Otsego Lakes Festival on
Saturday, July 12 at Lakefront Park in Cooperstown. For more information,
e-mail admin@occainfo.org.
OCCA is a private, non-profit
environmental membership organization dedicated to promoting the appreciation
and sustainable use of Otsego County's natural resources through education,
advocacy, resource management, research, and planning. For more information on
OCCA, or to support programming, call (607)
547-4488
or visit www.occainfo.org.
Darla M. Youngs, Executive
Director
Otsego County Conservation
Association
Facilitator, Otsego County
Water Quality Coordinating Committee
7193 State Highway 80, PO Box
931
Cooperstown, NY 13326
(607) 547-4488; (607) 282-4087
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