Haynesville Shale - Wilcox Aquifier could be affected

The feds' could soon get involved in keeping track of underground water levels affected by drilling in the Haynesville Shale.
Ben McGee with the U.S. Geological Survey met with Caddo officials Friday morning, including commissioners and Parish Administrator Woody Wilson.
The parish may ask the U.S.G.S. to do another study on the Wilcox Aquifer and the long-term effects that gas drilling could have on water levels.
"Bottom line is, it's not hard to stress the Wilcox Aquifer," said McGee, a supervisory hydrologist with the U.S.G.S., who used 2005 study figures in his discussion with parish leaders.

The Wilcox Aquifer accounts for 25-percent of the water supply for Caddo Parish, used primarily in rural, farming areas. Also in attendance, Gary Hanson, who is director of the Red River Watershed Management Institute and Professor of Geology at LSU-Shreveport. He described the Wilcox Aquifer as slow to re-charge (re-fill). Its saving grace, compared to a 'confined' aquifer, is the fact it is a 'surface water re-charge aquifer,' replenished largely by rain water over a large surface area.

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