On Aug. 15, I watched the CBC show The Nature of Things on fracking.

I was so shocked and stunned by the documentary that I took notes and decided to send in a comment to the newspaper.

I had read John Streicker's comment in the Whitehorse Star (Aug. 2) and felt it was important to also include the dangers of fracking to our water system.

John had focused on the dangers to our air, but the documentary seemed to imply that the bigger concern was what fracking could do to our water supply.

Gas well pads are everywhere in the States, especially in Texas. In Erie, Colorado, people had no choice – wells were drilled beside schools, daycares, seniors' homes, hospitals, apartment buildings, homes. Parents who were interviewed thought that if the well is so close, it must be safe!

In Colorado, EnCana, a Canadian energy company, put in a drill well 600 yards from an elementary school.

Kids starting getting serious nosebleeds in conjunction when foul odours were smelled from the well compression stations.

They found that kids who were missing 30 days of school or more and were complaining of feeling sick and having intestinal problems. It was found that their moms were all pregnant while fracking was going on.

Testing found that carbon disulphide was present in the air around their school as well as high VOCs (volatile organic compounds – carbon gases that contain gases and vapours such as gasoline fumes and solvents), and butane and propane.

Mothers fought back and organized a Mother's Day rally – "Ban Fracking”.

They demanded EnCana stop drilling as their Mother's Day gift.

But EnCana said, "What about the people who own the mineral rights?” and continued fracking.

The state of Colorado has a setback of 350 feet from wells.

Yet, a Science of the Environment Study found "unsafe concentrations of VOCs during fracking within a half-mile radius and that seven times that distance was still unsafe. The mothers wondered, "Why does the burden of proof lay on them?”

The families are now selling the homes they love and moving away from communities and friends they love.

The last straw for a father was when his son got a massive nosebleed in the middle of the night.

What is fracking doing to water? Water used for fracking has 750 chemical compounds in it, many of which are carcinogens and poisonous.

There have been many well casing failures where methane contaminated drinking water.

Wells located near gas wells are 15 to 20 times more likely to have methane in the water .. .the water from the gas wells can flow upwards to contaminate drinking water and migrate to contaminate ground water.

Over six per cent of wells develop leaks in walls that were designed to be sealed. Sealing the wells with concrete is a difficult process.

Trillions of litres of fresh water are being taken away from our water system for fracking.

The amount of fresh water needed for one well would equal the water in Elk Lake and Beaver Lake (conjoined lakes near Victoria, B.C. – 10-km hike around them).

Alberta farmers also expressed concern, if not outrage, about the amount of water being used for fracking.

The water is so poisonous after fracking that it has to be pumped deep into the earth.

They are now suspicious that deep water pumping can possibly cause tremors – in the Horne River basin north of Fort Nelson, B.C., there has been earthquake after earthquake.

In St. Louis, Que., Shell drilled a well right beside a daycare – people went ballistic.

A woman with a well in the field near her home said fracking went on for 2 1/2 months straight, with burning and explosions shaking her house in the middle of the night.

The government sells over land mineral rights to an oil company.

The land owner has no bargaining power, no say – the oil company comes on your property and drills a gas well or can drill a tunnel in any direction, meaning the gas well could be under your house.

The man who pioneered hydraulic fracking was also interviewed and expressed grave concern about where fracking is going.

There are green fracking initiatives which are costly but whichv reduce the time spent fracking with fewer emissions, but Canada has no restrictions on emissions. Meanwhile, the flaring and venting put out carcinogenic chemicals.

We are left with many unanswered questions about the hazards of fracking, yet governments in B.C. and Alberta are pushing ahead with fracking.

In eastern Canada, they are not!

In Yukon, the government is talking and considering fracking.

As asked in the documentary: "What is the potential for water contamination of our drinking water?”

"Can we afford to remove trillions of litres of water from our water cycle?”

What do we do with all the poisonous water?

Jan Slipetz

Marsh Lake