Commission Wants to Help Fund Water Testing
Pocahontas Times
8 September 2011
By Pamela Pritt
The Pocahontas County Commission wants to avoid troubled waters in
the Birthplace of Rivers and one commissioner is suggesting that
the county pay for baseline testing of water wells.
Commissioner Martin Saffer said he is concerned about companies
drilling for natural gas in Marcellus shale by using a method
called hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracking, which can use
millions of gallons of water per well and uses a surfactant that
could contain harsh chemicals. Opponents of the practice say they
fear that surface water sources will be depleted and groundwater
sources will be contaminated if drilling rigs set up within this
county's borders.
"I think the county has to make an assessment of the water asset
[here]. Your water is my water in this county," said commissioner
Martin Saffer. "It's dangerous or naïve to think that your
well is not intertwined with other water in the county."
Saffer noted that the county's water assets need to have a "market
value." Caves, underground streams, rivers and lakes and streams
that sink and rise again miles away all play a part in the area's
abundant water resources, he said.
Water could be a "billion dollar asset," he hypothesized.
While commissioners did not come to any conclusion on the matter,
the discussion about protecting water resources here was broad and
open-ended.
County sanitarian David Henderson said he found an "oil and gas
pre-drilling package" test. Samples from testing would have to be
hand-delivered to Charleston and cost $223. Henderson said someone
from his department would have to draw the sample. The tests do
not cover radioactivity.
Henderson said that since 1984, 1,851 water wells have been
drilled in Pocahontas County. Excluding all wells drilled before
the permitting process began nearly 20 years ago, testing would
cost more than $40,000. Henderson said testing should be
voluntary.
Saffer said his end game is to have the commission enter into a
fully documented resolution with findings and conclusions about
hydrofracking.
"We can't just say, ‘we believe,'" he said. "We have to know what
we're talking about. We're going to have to spend some money."
Lynnmarie Knight, of the Pocahontas County Water Resources Task
Force, said it is important to take local action. The state's
water management plan is "on hold," she said.
Elk Headwaters Watershed Association president George Bell
suggested that the county launch a campaign to encourage people to
have their wells tested and that the county do a vulnerability
study to highlight which of the county's watersheds might be the
most sensitive to contamination.
Hillsboro resident Beth Little said the county commission should
be asking questions of the West Virginia Department of
Environmental Protection about drilling in karst limestone
formations.