From The Nation.
- Fracking fluids (composed of mostly chemicals so toxic the companies won't name them) are poisoning wells in Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado.
- Fracking spills poison surface lakes and streams.
- The fracking process, putting unknown chemicals under pressure to push out oil, forces these chemicals into aquifers, poisoning them permanently. Aquifers can span multiple counties or nearly a whole state, affection 100,00s of people who can no longer use their wells for drinking or gardening.
- Jacki Schilke in North Dakota saw fracking begin 3 miles from her house via 32 fracking wells. Then 5 of her cows die. She can no longer sell the cows because they are likely poisoned from the well water. Thus, her livelihood that pays for her food and house, is gone. Schilke has trouble walking, has burning in her lungs, has a rash that hasn't gone away in a year, and sometimes urinates blood.
- Ambient air testing by a certified environmental consultant detected elevated levels of benzene, methane, chloroform, butane, propane, toluene and xylene—compounds associated with drilling and fracking, and also with cancers, birth defects and organ damage.
- Her well tested high for sulfates, chromium, chloride and strontium; her blood tested positive for acetone, plus the heavy metals arsenic (linked with skin lesions, cancers and cardiovascular disease) and germanium (linked with muscle weakness and skin rashes).
- Both she and her husband, who works in oilfield services, have recently lost crowns and fillings from their teeth; tooth loss is associated with radiation poisoning and high selenium levels, also found in the Schilkes’ water.
- 17 cows died in Louisiana after a fracking spill. The following year the sexes of the cows born were skewed: 10 females, only 2 males.
- In New Mexico the hair was tested of cows. 54 of 56 (96%) animals showed petroleum residue. That means the cows ate the petroleum.
- "In North Dakota, wind-borne fly ash, which is used to solidify the waste from drilling holes and contains heavy metals, settled over a farm: one cow, which either inhaled or ingested the caustic dust, died, and a stock pond was contaminated with arsenic at double the accepted level for drinking water."
- Cattle that die on the farm aren't used for human food, but they are used for chicken and pig feed.
Get a water filter that filters out many of these chemicals AND pathogens. In order to get the right filter, you MUST see third party test results, and these are very rare in the industry. But Berkefeld (Berkey) filters do have test results and they are very good. Activated carbon catches some chemicals but not all. Therefore chemical filters often have multiple stages. Look for a 5-stage filter. Brita filters are not enough!
Tips to buy a filter
Get a silver impregnated filter to reduce bacterial growth while the filter sits.
The bigger counter-top filters like a Berkey (there are other brands like it) general filter 2 liters per hour.
Example units which are good at filtering chemicals
- Berkey from Amazon with carbon and fluoride filters. $288usd.
- Here's an Aquacera carbon filter for $30usd. If you want to make your own filter out of two 5g buckets, make sure the seal between the "dirty" and the "clean" water is 100% tight. You absolutely don't want to get cryptosporidium, as you will never forget it. This is absolutely not for beginners, your health depends on it!
More links
- See Which water filter is best for you? Has links to reviews of many types of water filters. To remove chemicals you need some type of activated carbon filter, but this won't remove pathogens like bacteria. So you need a combination filter that removes chemicals and pathogens.
- List of fracking maps. Find out if your aquifer has been poisoned by nearby fracking wells.
