EPA Tests Show Water Is Safe In 11 Dimock, PA Homes

The EPA water test results for the first group of 11 homes tested in Dimock, Pennsylvania, show the water is safe to drink.  While traces of arsenic was found in two homes and of sodium, methane, chromium, or bacteria were found in samples from 6 homes, no concentration above the safe level for any contaminant was found.
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/03/15/epas-test-results-show-safe-drinking-water-in-dimock/#more-7925.  Included in the 11 homes with results showing that the water is safe are 3 homes where the EPA is delivering water. EPA also states that it will take another sample and test once more.

Testing by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in 2009 and 2010 documented two things  in 18 water wells in Dimock, Pennsylvania:

First, methane had migrated from gas wells and contaminated 18 water wells.  Testing of the gas in the gas wells confirmed that the gas was not pre-existing or natural occurring gas but had come from nearby gas wells. Other evidence, such as high pressure readings in some gas wells and gas bubbling in the cellar of a gas well, also indicated that shallow gas had not been fully isolated.

Second, DEP testing found no frack fluids, chemicals, or other contaminants associated with hydrualic fracturing or drilling had contaminated any water well.

Starting in 2009 and continuing into 2010, the Pennsylvania DEP ordered remedies, including plugging gas wells, repairing gas wells, and installing methane treatment systems, to address the methane contamination of the 18 water wells. By the end of 2010, methane levels had been reduced to safe levels in at least 13 of the 18 water wells, according to testing done at that time.  The water was safe to drink at that time in those homes.

The EPA 2012 test results appear to be similar to the December 2010 DEP test results.