Study maps fracking methane risk to drinking water (BBC)

By David Shukman
Science editor, BBC News

A major study into the potential of fracking to contaminate drinking water with methane has been published.

The British Geological Survey and the Environment Agency have mapped where key aquifers in England and Wales coincide with locations of shale.

The research reveals this occurs under nearly half of the area containing the principal natural stores of water.

The risk of methane being released into drinking water has long been one of the most sensitive questions over fracking.
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"In the United States, they didn't carry out a baseline survey before the industry took place and that has resulted in controversy and uncertainty about the source of methane in drinking water," he said.
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more: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28130982




No study is going to diminish the amount of manufactured controversy. As long as controversy can run interference for profit, it will be cranked out by the bollockload. Of course, there are two big flaws in this study: one is the assumption that it is only the leakage of methane into water supplies that need be worried about; the other is the assumption that distance alone (800 m, or ~0.5 mile) is sufficient to protect the water table in all cases, basically forever.