The Green Fork is the official blog of the Eat Well Guide. Click here to Find Good Food.

Kai Olson-Sawyer is program manager for H2O Conserve, a program of GRACE.

On Tuesday November 10th, New York State Department of Conservation (DEC) will host an important public hearing about the threat posed by natural gas drilling to New York City’s drinking water.  The Catskill-Delaware watershed, which provides pristine drinking water for the city, is known as one of the largest and finest unfiltered supplies in the world. However, much of New York State’s lower tier, including the Catskill-Delaware watershed, also sits on the natural gas-rich Marcellus Shale that extends from Tennessee through Pennsylvania to New York.

In dispute is whether the specialized method of drilling, called hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” for short, should be conducted in the heart of New York City’s watershed, putting its drinking water supply in danger. Besides the chemical-laden fracking fluid that goes into the ground, wastewater that is pulled up contains naturally occurring carcinogens like cadmium and benzene, as well as a gritty mixture of salt and minerals called Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), which can decimate aquatic life in high quantities. This fluid is then shot at high pressure through a borehole in the ground to crack the bedrock and shale layers and release the natural gas. Fracking fluids can go from hundreds to thousands of feet underground to get to gas pockets. Some of the fluids and chemicals remain underground, potentially contaminating groundwater that flows into the New York City water system. Even more disturbing are findings in recent DEC tests that show unsafe levels of radioactive elements present in the wastewater .

New York City drinking water is pure as it travels unfiltered from the watershed to the tap. Any contamination in the watershed could necessitate a water filtration plant that carries a price tag of at least $10 billion (PDF) according to the NYS Department of Health . Many New Yorkers want to avoid a water filtration plant and the higher taxes and water rates that would be incurred.

Two major demands are expected to be made at Tuesday’s hearing by public officials concerned about the safety of the NYC drinking water supply:

• The DEC should extend the commenting period on the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) from 60 days to 120 days in order to for concerned citizens to absorb the material and raise concerns over the 800-page technical document (more DEC information here).

• A ban on fracking in the Catskill-Delaware watershed which could be ordered by New York Governor Paterson and the DEC.

Through the draft SGEIS, the DEC has issued more environmental regulations on natural gas drilling than any other state, like requiring gas drillers to reveal the fracking fluid chemicals and creating 1,000-foot buffer zones around reservoirs and other water bodies in the watershed.  However, many problems and questions remain. For instance, will DEC staff, already overstretched, be able to monitor gas drillers as they should? I mention the DEC’s ability to monitor and perform due diligence because it has been called into question by a recent review of natural gas and petroleum drilling in New York State by Walter Hang of the environmental research firm, Toxics Targeting. What his review reveals is that since 1978, 270 drilling accidents occurred in New York State with the DEC only managing to catch 60 of them. From this assessment, Mr. Hang calls the regulatory oversight by the DEC “fundamentally inadequate.” More questions abound: Where and how is harmful wastewater going to be disposed? Who is going to treat this wastewater and where will it be done? What residents are going to want to live where such activities take place?

This is an incredibly hot and important topic for the residents of both New York City and New York State. Often unmentioned is the potential economic boon for Upstate residents who could  sell drilling rights on their property.  And the revenue generated for New York State government could help it meet budget shortfalls. We will be watching the outcome of Tuesday’s meeting and have a deeper look in future blog posts about what natural gas drilling means for New York’s water, environment and economy.

To learn more about the fracking process and the risks involved to the New York City  watershed, we highly recommend ProPublica’s excellent reporting here and here.