Hydrocarbon Extraction and Risk to Groundwater in Pennsylvania: Part 1. Using Geoscientific Analysis and Community Engagement to Analyze Exposures to Potential Groundwater Contamination Related to Hydrocarbon Extraction in Southwestern Pennsylvania

This report, available for downloading below, presents a study led by co-principal investigators Jennifer Baka, Susan L. Brantley, and Lingzhou Xue at The Pennsylvania State University. Baka and colleagues examined the effects of unconventional oil and gas development on groundwater in regions with long histories of energy development.

Key takeaways:

• This study used a publicly available database to develop and apply a modeling approach designed to isolate the effects of unconventional oil and gas development on groundwater in regions with long histories of energy development.
• There were small increases in barium and strontium in some hotspot areas, mainly linked to oil and gas wastewater spills or leaks from storage areas.
• Community focus groups expressed concerns about potential radiation exposure from spills and leaks, specifically, which helped to inform the study design and highlighted the value of community knowledge in exposure studies.
• Overall, this study improves our understanding of unconventional oil and gas development-related groundwater contamination and potential exposures through water and provides an approach to predict possible contamination hotspots.