A study recently accepted for publication in the Journal Endocrinology suggests that fracking sites may contaminate water supplies with endocrine-distrupting chemicals (EDC’s).
Researchers looked at hydraulic fracturing sites with drilling spills or accidents in a drilling-dense area of Garfield County, CO – an area with more than 10,000 active natural gas wells – and from drilling-sparse control sites without spills in Garfield County as well as Boone County, MO. They found the highest level of EDC’s in water close to sites that had spills. Overall, water samples from the drilling sites had high to moderate levels of endocrine disrupting chemicals—and the Colorado River, which is the drainage basin for the sites, had moderate levels of the chemicals.
There was no discussion in the available materials of whether the EDC’s are sufficiently diluted by the time they water taken by a water supplier nor whether they are neutralized during water treatment processes.
Read the press release from the Endocrine Society
Written by Marta Weismann