WV Group Seeks Volunteers to Sample Rivers/Streams Near Fracking
Increasingly MDN receives a lot of email from both pro- and anti-drilling organizations and groups. We select only those items that we believe would be of interest to you. Below is one such item. A few days ago we received a forwarded email from someone working with the Three Rivers QUEST (3RQ), a water monitoring program managed by the WV Water Research Institute. West Virginia University also has some sort of involvement, according to the 3RQ website.
3RQ is looking for volunteers for their water monitoring program in WV–people to take water samples from rivers and streams “down wind” (or rather downstream) from active shale drilling sites. We fully expect most people who participate in the program are anti-drilling in philosophy. However, good science is good science. MDN believes it would be a good will gesture for pro-drillers to also volunteer…
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