Network Monitors Water Quality in Shale Gas Drilling Region
Author:
YSI Environmental
Date Published:
2011
Description:
Hydraulic fracturing has been practiced since 1949 and has become extremely popular across the U.S. as gas companies have increasingly focused on hard-to-tap gas reserves, but little information is available on its impact on surface and ground water supplies. The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), based in Harrisburg, Penn., has established a 50-station remote water quality monitoring network
to provide continuous, real-time data on local streams and rivers in an effort to determine whether fracking is impacting water quality in the basin. Building on SRBC’s experience with a drinking water quality monitoring network established almost a decade ago, Gavin and his colleagues developed a plan to deploy sondes—rugged probes that collect and transmit information on water quality—for longterm, continuous monitoring at 50 sites in the Susquehanna basin where it overlies Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania and New York.
Each station consists of a YSI 6600 V2-4 multiparameter sonde in a protective PVC housing tethered to the streambank and connected to a data platform. Dataloggers are connected to cell modems—or if a cell signal is unavailable, a satellite transmitter— and powered by a solar panel.
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