RESOLVING THE LEDGER
This is one outlet's own report from Phys.org — the article as it was filed. Other outlets are covering the same event; open the full story to compare every source side by side.
See the full story · 1 sources
edited by Gaby Clark , reviewed by Robert Egan
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:
Add as preferred source Pennsylvania ranks second in U.S. natural gas production, accounting for about one-fifth of U.S. output in 2024, and has one of the most extensive histories of energy extraction in the country. A team of researchers from Penn State is trying to better understand the environmental impacts of these sites—specifically, whether fracking is increasing radium content in local drinking water.
According to a new study recently published in Environmental Science & Technology , the answer is not a simple yes or no. The team recorded higher salt concentrations in samples taken closer to energy extraction sites, indicating that natural gas drilling might contribute to elevated salinity in the ground, in turn releasing radium—a radioactive chemical—and other heavy metals trapped in the surrounding rock into drinking water.
The team connected with homeowners across Washington and Greene counties in southwestern Pennsylvania to collect samples from 91 private water wells and springs, testing whether nearby fracking-based oil and gas operations contributed to higher concentrations of radium in the groundwater. The team found elevated radium content was associated with some drilling operations, as well as higher salt concentrations in the water. However, the recorded upticks in salinity and radium could also be associated with a host of other environmental factors aside from energy extraction.
Radium can be found in the ground at very low concentrations throughout the environment, explained Nathaniel Warner, associate professor of environmental engineering at Penn State. However, drinking water with elevated radium levels can pose serious health problems, including an increased risk of cancer.
"Radium has a chemical makeup sort of similar to other metals like calcium, so it follows in the body where those chemicals naturally go," Warner explained. "Your body says, 'I need calcium for my bones, so I'm going to send some calcium there, along with some radium that I'm drinking.' Over time, that radium will decay, releasing particles and energy that will damage your cells."
Oil and gas drilling traditionally involves drilling into oil or gas pools miles underground. However, as these wells have depleted over decades of use, unconventional oil and gas (UOG) drilling has emerged to access previously untapped fuel reserves. UOG uses a process known as fracking to extract fuel from the ground, shooting a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals to break apart rock horizontally from the initial borehole.
"The big difference is really the scale of the operation—the amount drilled and the amount of water used to frack and break apart the rock," Warner explained. "In UOG, you're drilling miles down, but then also drilling miles out horizontally. With that said, there are a lot of similarities in the impacts you might see associated with UOG and conventional operations."
Previous research by another team at Penn State had linked elevated salt-content "hotspots" to UOG operations, particularly in the Northern Appalachian Basin, stretching from Alabama to upstate New York. According to Warner, these areas of elevated salinity can carry up to 200% higher risk for radium-related health effects because introducing salty chemicals can knock existing radium off surrounding rocks and into underground freshwater reservoirs.
However, little research had examined whether these drilling operations were specifically responsible for increased radium content in groundwater. Previous studies had focused on upticks in deep brine salts like sodium, chloride, barium and strontium in areas that had experienced oil or gas spills, but radium measurements were notably absent.
The team began by reaching out to homeowners living at different distances from UOG operations, specifically within about half a mile (0.8 km), just under 2 miles (3 km) and slightly more than 3 miles (5 km).
During several field campaigns, the researchers collected drinking-water samples from the homes. They directly tapped into residents' private wells before the water was exposed to any treatment system, such as faucet filters. Once the samples were collected, they returned to the lab and analyzed the samples' radium and salt content.
Through this process, the team was able to do more than just take readings on the radium content of the water—they were able to draw broad insights about the homes' water quality, which they shared with the homeowners. Jennifer Baka, associate professor of geography at Penn State, explained how studies like this help not just researchers but also the local communities where they are conducted.
"Communities want to know what is in their drinking water and whether it is safe to drink," Baka said. "Over the course of years, we have established relationships with communities living in close proximity to UOG operations in order to gain their trust and help address their concerns."
Of the 91 samples, six could potentially be associated with the presence of fracking wastewater, the researchers reported. This indicates that although the correlation is not broadly generalizable to all extraction operations, spills or other mismanagement could contribute to localized impacts. Samples taken from within 3 kilometers, or just under 2 miles, were more likely to exhibit elevated radium levels, although the finding was not significant enough to cite as a broad correlation. Additionally, all radium levels remained within the Environmental Protection Agency's legal limits.
Warner said examining radium content in relation to UOG operations is one piece of a larger puzzle in understanding how residential and industrial development affects an area's groundwater quality.
"Radium ...
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.