Kelly Williams, a watershed specialist with the Clearfield County Conservation District, kept receiving calls from anguished residents, unsure whether to spend their hard-earned dollars on baseline water tests that might serve as their only protection if their wells are ever contaminated by Marcellus Shale drilling. So she took action.
Williams, a 26-year-old nature lover who grew up hunting and fishing in the woods and streams of Jefferson County, applied for and won a $150,000 grant from the Colcom Foundation to provide water testing, free of charge, to central Pennsylvania residents in need. Williams thinks the grant will allow her to give out as many as 800 free well tests to residents in Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson, Elk, Cameron, Clinton, Potter and McKean counties.
“The main objective of this is to give local people a chance to get their water tested and not stress out about the money,” Williams said.
By logging baseline data, the tests, which normally cost upward of $200, would give private well owners legal cover if their water becomes contaminated. If an accident — caused by drilling or any other man-made pollution — affects the water’s quality, a second test can be done and its results compared to the baseline test results to form a basis for legal action.
The grant came as part of an ongoing, multimillion dollar investment on behalf of the Pittsburgh-based Colcom Foundation, which seeks to invest in projects to “instill a higher level of accountability in connection with the Marcellus activity,” according to John Rohe, the nonprofit’s vice president of philanthropy.
“There’s still some uncertainty as to just how hazardous (Marcellus drilling) is. The foundation’s Marcellus Environment Fund seeks to find out what the risks are, how do we quantify those risks, and how do we then responsibly address those risks and how do we confer a dignity and respect upon the people and places that are subject to this activity,” Rohe said.
Both Rohe, on behalf of the foundation, and Williams said they take no position for or against gas drilling.
“It’s such a complicated and hugely important issue, with so many consequences.” Williams said. “My grant proposal was a way to do something helpful and proactive but remain neutral on the politics of the issue.”
The grant will be run through the Headwaters Resource Conservation and Development Council, based in DuBois, a nonprofit formed in 1975 with the goal of “promoting the quality of life and economic sustain-ability by restoring, protecting and enhancing natural and cultural resources in north-central Pennsylvania through technical assistance, implementing resource conservation projects, fostering volunteer efforts, and developing financial partnerships.”
Headwaters is a consortium of local officials in eight counties, including Mike Bloom, a senior planner in the Centre County Planning and Community Development Office who is the group’s vice president. He said the grant came at an important time for the organization, which had to cut back on its initiatives and lay off both of its employees after it lost all of its federal funding earlier this year.
“We’ve been trying to find what niche Headwaters is going to fill moving forward, and how we’ll define ourselves now,” Bloom said. “Kelly’s project is a great one. A project like hers has a lot of merit and could be a defining project for Headwaters.”
Ann Donovan, a watershed specialist with the Centre County Conservation District, called Williams’ project “wonderful” for residents of the Moshannon Creek and Beech Creek watersheds, where untainted fresh water resources are scarce and drilling is ramping up.
“Everybody with private wells should get their drinking water tested, not to be alarmist. It’s just a pragmatic way of dealing with drilling, (a) proactive way of protecting something pretty important,” Donovan said.
Major hurdles remain for the project. While Williams has negotiated a competitive, bulk rate of $128 per sample for the lab work, the testing is the easy part of the project. The bigger effort will be put into educating well owners on what to do after they get back their samples.
“The test will give them a lot of information. People should know how to read the tests, so they know if they have hard or soft water, whether to treat it or not — so people not only have their results but know what to do with them,” Williams said.
The most daunting aspect of the grant for Williams is that the effort necessary to see the project through will likely depend largely on volunteers — and so far, she’s the only one. Williams said she would welcome help in spreading the word about the program, processing applications and in mapping out the locations of the water wells approved for testing.
Despite the challenges, Williams remains undeterred.
“Whenever I need motivation, I think of everyone I made a promise to that they would get a free test,” she said. “I intend to keep that promise.”
Anyone wishing to volunteer, or seeking more information or an application form, can email Williams at kwilliamsccd@atlanticbbn.n et or call her at 765-2629. Cliff White can be reached at 235-3928.
