Garrettsville – The Garrettsville Board of Public Affairs and JD Environmental Consulting, LLC are pleased to invite the public to a presentation of the 2012 Baseline Report for the Village of Garrettsville’s Ground Water Monitoring Program. The presentation will be given in the Council Chambers of the Village Hall at 8213 High Street in Garrettsville at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, July 8 following the regular BPA meeting.The characteristics of ground water sources in and around the Village of Garrettsville coupled with human activities make ground water potentially vulnerable to contamination. Eastern Ohio has a long history of oil and gas development dating back to 1860 that has been historically associated with incidents of ground water and surface water contamination. The Utica and Point Pleasant Shales of eastern Ohio are currently being explored and permits have been issued for nine horizontal wells on four pads within a four-mile radius of the Village of Garrettsville. This unconventional drilling combines the technologies of directional (horizontal) drilling and hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and gas from organic-rich shale deposits.
The purpose of establishing a baseline water quality program was to obtain water level and water quality data from residential water wells located within recharge areas and ground water flow paths up gradient from Garrettsville’s water well field. The design of the program provides for early detection of possible contamination and provides a structure for continued monitoring. The water quality parameters included in the monitoring program were based on the three-tiered set of water quality parameters adopted by the Ohio Department of Health, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Portage County Health Department.
This presentation will summarize current oil/gas activity in the area, discuss the results and interpretations of ground water samples and measurements collected during the summer and fall of 2012, as well as describe future sampling recommendations. A special thank you is extended to the residents of Hiram and Nelson Townships who welcomed us into their homes and allowed sampling of their private water wells.
