Matt Manning stands between a 'No Smoking' sign and his 160-foot deep water well vent which recently has been spewing out water like a fountain.The vent sits eight feet away from his house. STAFF PHOTO/ROBERT BAKER
BY ROBERT L. BAKER
Matt Manning discovered recently that if he doesn’t run water steadily his water well vent spews like a fountain.
The issue has gone viral on the Internet with a YouTube video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n0oM4R5WKE&feature=email and, Manning and his wife Tammy showed up at last Tuesday’sFranklinTownship supervisors’ meeting wanting answers.
Manning said that at least two other homeowners who lived nearby him about a mile away fromSaltSpringsState Parkalso attended last week’s meeting.
The Mannings said they contacted the state Department of Environmental Protection on Dec. 6 about the problem, after a methane reading registered 38 mg/liter.
Manning said on Monday that on the day of theFranklinTownshipmeeting the previous Tuesday there was a 68 mg/liter reading.
He said that he has become so concerned that he has placed a ‘No Smoking’ sign in his driveway for fear someone might light a match to his well, and although he has a gas stove in his house, no longer uses it out of similar concerns.
Although he does not point his finger at WPX Energy (formerly Williams Production), he notes categorically that the company’s Hollenbeck drill site is 4,000 feet away.
Manning said that in addition to being concerned that his home might blow up from an apparent buildup in pressure, he’s also concerned about rising numbers of barium, manganese and arsenic in his water.
“I have three grandchildren and I can’t let them bathe in it knowing that something’s in the water that could kill him.”
DEP spokesman Colleen Connelly confirmed Monday there was a high level of methane when its field workers did the first round of testing in December.
But Connelly also noted there were no pre-drilling baseline numbers for the Manning family to get a sense of perspective.
She said the agency did not have numbers from a recent round of testing.
A representative from WPX Energy was at the township meeting and said she would give the Mannings and the other concerned citizens her card.
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