NC Startup Aims to Trace Fracking Fluid in Water Supplies

A startup  company in North Carolina is hoping to lay to rest (or validate) concerns that fracking fluid somehow gets from a mile underground into drinking water supplies near the surface. BaseTrace, started by a group of former Duke University students, is experimenting with a tracer chemical that can uniquely “fingerprint” fracking fluid used in each individual well and, theoretically, determine which well may be leaking—if indeed leaking ever happens. Although similar ways of tracking drilling fluids have been done in the past, BaseTrace is different with its ability to individually encode the tracer chemical for each individual well. Here’s more background:

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