Mohican Basin Landowners

Drinking Water Well Sampling Information

There has been a lot of interest by members concerning drinking water well sampling and analysis. Having your drinking water sampled and analyzed before oil and gas drilling provides proof of what the water was like before any drilling activity took place. We have reviewed information about water well sampling before oil and gas drilling, from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Division of Mineral Resource Management, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA), and Headwaters Resource Conservation & Development Council, of Dubois, Pennsylvania. After finishing this review, we recommend that, at their own expense, anybody interested in having their drinking water tested should have it tested for all of the parameters recommended by the OEPA. They are listed by the OEPA as Tier I, Tier II and Tier III. The sampling should be performed by a qualified person and the analysis by a certified laboratory.

A list of certified laboratories in Ohio who are capable of performing the water analysis, can be found on the OEPA, Division of Drinking and Ground Waters, website at http://www.epa.ohio.gov/portals/28/documents/labcert/chemlabs.pdf. The cost of the sampling and analysis can be reduced by having a group of neighbors getting together and having the water sampled on the same day.

Additional information concerning Water Well Sampling Before Oil and Gas Drilling, can be found at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources website, http://www.ohiodnr.com/portals/11/publications/pdf/water_well_sampling_fact_sheet.pdf.