well water contamination in Canada.

[davey72]

I recently moved to the country in central Alberta, and was very pleased to have well water to drink after a lifetime of drinking water laden with fluoride. I had been drinking it for awhile before i Started to see the threads on the forum relating to high iron concentrations in the blood, and realized our water contained high concentrations of iron. I started to get water from a neighbors well that is much deeper than ours, and also using a britta filter for the water here. I know of people in very close proximity that had their wells contaminated through fracking. Thing is if you don't let them put a well on your property then they will directionally drill under your land anyways. These people can light their water on fire, but the oil companies of course will say that it was from something else. i had just been hoping that they don't find anything near our well. Now i have found out that our well water may be contaminated from two different gas plants. One in Edson, and one in Peers.

I had a quick look into the matter, and have come to realize that underground water contamination in Canada is way more prevalent than most people would ever suspect.

This is an old article, but still relevant, as it is an ongoing problem for many people here.

_http://www.ernstversusencana.ca/alberta-accused-of-ignoring-water-well-contamination-by-oil-and-gas-drilling

by The Canadian Press, May 1, 2007
Shawn Campbell says the Alberta government has refused to test the toxic cocktail of petro-gases that he says have poisoned his drinking water. … Campbell and wife Ronalie said they have 30 producing oil or gas wells on their 250 cow-calf operation. They discovered more than a year ago that their water well contained explosive gases like methane, ethane, propane, butane and pentane. He said they have fought the province unsuccessfully to have full comprehensive testing of their water. Environment Minister Rob Renner said he is not aware of any instances where the province has refused to test wells.

_http://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/yellowhead-county-residents-advised-against-drinking-well-water-1.1730656

The Canadian Press
Published Saturday, March 15, 2014 10:31AM MDT

Alberta Health Services is urging residents near a gas plant to not use water from their wells due to possible contamination.

AHS says the potential contaminant is Sulfolane, an industrial solvent used to purify natural gas.

The government says residents located within five kilometres of the South Rosevear Gas Plant in Yellowhead County near Edson should get drinking water from other sources than their private wells.

AHS says foods can be cooked in well water only if water will be fully drained before serving, and well water can be used for showering or bathing, because Sulfolane is not absorbed through skin, and cannot be inhaled through water vapours
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Wilma
Mar. 16, 2014
9:32 AM
Abuse

This is just the beginning . . . .water IS the most precious resource

Brent McGillis
Mar. 16, 2014
8:20 AM
Abuse

Hellberta the first province in Canada to poison ALL of their waterways and lakes with Fracking and Oil exploration. It is the Hellberta WAY! Thanks Harper for trashing the most valuable commodity to Americans on the face of the Earth, WATER. (Sic)

_http://www.albertasurfacerights.com/articles/?id=1463

Fracking Contamination 'Will Get Worse': Alberta Expert


Tighter regulations to protect groundwater needed, says U of Alberta geochemist.

By Andrew Nikiforuk, Today, TheTyee.ca

Hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking' forces chemicals into the ground to pry open trapped gas deposits.









A well-known industry expert in tracking leaking methane from oil and gas wells says a groundbreaking U.S. federal study on hydraulic fracturing highlights not only an old and growing problem, but the need for tighter regulations in the shale gas industry.

"The shale gas boom combined with hydraulic fracking will cause wellbores to leak more often than run-of-the-mill conventional wells," says Karlis Muehlenbachs, a geochemist at the University of Alberta. "The problem is going to get worse, not better."

Muehlenbachs, a leading authority on identifying the unique carbon fingerprint or isotopes of shale and conventional gases, says regulators must do better baseline groundwater testing and rigorously check wells for leakage. (Industry calls these leaks surface casing vent flow or sustained casing pressure.)

"The biggest problem is that half or more the wells drilled leak due to improper cement jobs or industry is not following best practices," adds Muehlenbachs.

Earlier this month the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that EnCana, the continent's second largest shale gas producer, had contaminated groundwater in Pavillion, Wyoming.

Those findings, which contradict industry assurances, didn't surprise Muehlenbachs, who has studied leaking wells in Alberta's heavy oil fields for decades.

The thing is that your well may be contaminated, and you may never know.


I went to the local store in Wildwood to buy water in the water cooler bottles, and when i got home i decided to check them on a hunch. of course they contain fluoride. This is the only type of bottled water available around here.

I thought about posting this in the "suggest an article for SOTT" section, but thought i may not have included enough info.


EDIT: On a side note i had problems with the our pump at one point, and while there was no water i was melting snow to drink. The water from that snow had a gross scum all through it that stuck to the sides of the container, and i did not feel well after drinking a big quantity of it. I took it far away from our burning barrel, so I'm not sure what this would have been from