Commission set to begin real-time water quality monitoring

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The Susquehanna River Basin Commission announced it will install 30 water quality monitoring stations in 2010. Stations will be placed in waters just north of Williamsport and spread beyond the New York state line.

Officials said stations will monitor smaller rivers and streams in regions where drilling in the Marcellus Shale is most active, as well as where no drilling activities are planned so the commission can collect control data.

The network will span across several Northern Tier counties, including northern Clinton and Lycoming as well as Tioga and Bradford. It will continuously measure and report water quality conditions to track changes on an ongoing, real-time basis.

The first of 10 initial stations planned for installation in early 2010 may include Larrys Creek in northern Lycoming County, according to Susan Obleski, communications director at the organization.

Other areas scheduled for monitor placements in the region later in the new year include Loyalsock and Lycoming creeks, she added.

"We do have an ambitious schedule in mind," Obleski said, adding a list of specific sites have been selected to participate.

"With the current concerns about the natural gas drilling activities occurring in the Susquehanna Basin, (the organization) believes that a data collection effort is critically important as the basis for making future decisions," said Paul Swartz, executive director.

As the drilling along the Marcellus Shale territory continues, concerns on its potential impact on water systems will increase, Obleski said.

"(The network) will not only show changes occurring," she said, "but will help agencies better pinpoint what might be the source of the changing conditions."

Equipment placed at the sites will provide constant data collection with instruments sensitive enough to detect subtle changes in water quality on a frequency that will allow background conditions and any changes to them to be documented throughout the year, the organization said.

Each station will be equipped with water quality sensors and a transmitter to monitor and report water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, ability to conduct electricity and water clarity. The water depth also will be recorded to establish a relationship with stream flows.

The monitoring of conductance is key to detecting if natural gas activities are impacting waters. This constituent in water produced by the natural gas industry is generally 200 times greater than normally measured in streams in the Susquehanna River Basin, allowing it to be a leading indicator.

East Resources Inc., a natural gas company based in Warrendale, will contribute $750,000 toward the network.

"The commission truly appreciates this substantial contribution," Swartz said. "It will allow us to cover the cost of installing the initial monitoring stations in the targeted areas. With this contribution, the commission has now secured a commitment of the financial resources needed to proceed with the project sooner than planned. If winter weather cooperates, we could begin installing equipment as (early as) January."

Commission officials will receive the data collected by the network and make it available to other resource agencies and the public through its Web site, they said.

"The very fact that people - not only government agencies - members of the public will be able to see the data for themselves on the Web site," Obleski said, "that's a really meaningful component of what we're doing, making this information as broadly available as possible."

For more information, visit www.srbc.net/programs/remotenetwork.htm.