Marcellus Shale and Gas Drilling in Pennsylvania: A Watershed Perspective

Posted by on December 13, 2010

December Schuylkill Soundings: “Marcellus Shale and Gas Drilling in Pennsylvania: A Watershed Perspective”

Our popular lecture series, Schuylkill Soundings, happens on the third Wednesday of the month with a range of guest speakers from different disciplines discussing historical and contemporary environmental topics. The next Schuylkill Soundings is on Wednesday, December 15, from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm, and will cover the recent Marcellus Shale and gas drilling.

Philadelphia’s 13,000-square-mile watershed encompasses two great rivers – the Delaware and the Schuylkill – and four states – Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware and New Jersey. Philadelphia is at the bottom of this watershed, so the land and water resource decisions made upstream can have significant effects on the quality and quantity of our drinking water supply.

The Marcellus Shale formation underlies roughly half of the watershed area influencing Philadelphia’s water supply, and activities related to shale drilling and high volume fracturing present new challenges to the quality and safety of our water resources.

Please join us on Wednesday, December 15, as Kelly Anderson and Paula Conolly of the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) present an overview of PWD’s approach to source water protection and what steps are being taken to address the challenges presented by natural gas drilling in the basin.

The City of Philadelphia has a proud tradition of watershed protection dating back to the mid nineteenth century when the Fairmount Park system was formed to protect the Schuylkill River from pollution. Today, watershed protection takes many forms as it needs to address a myriad of modern challenges, including those challenges posed by natural gas drilling.

To address these challenges, PWD has taken several steps to ensure that Philadelphia is taking a proactive approach to protecting the city’s drinking water supply from drilling impacts. This Schuylkill Soundings will cover this important topic and our outlook for the future.

Please RSVP by December 13. For reservations or more information, please call 215-685-0723.