Tracers to Help in Determining Source of Water Contamination Continue to Be Developed

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From Shale Reporter:
Researchers in the Rice University chemistry professor's laboratory have developed nanoparticles that will flow with the fluid used to hydraulically fracture oil and gas wells, slip through rocks and travel wherever the water ends up — in a holding pond at the surface, a tanker on the highway or, in a worst-case scenario, a nearby drinking water well.
The particles, which can bear unique magnetic signatures tailored to each fracking company that uses them, have the potential to clarify the troubled debate over whether and how oil and gas extraction damages water supplies.
"Whether you are Matt Damon or the president of Halliburton, for different reasons you should be interested in this," Barron said in a lounge off his laboratory on the Houston, Texas campus early this year. "If you're worried about the environment, then for once you might be able to find out if they've really done it and who did it. If you're Halliburton, maybe this is a way of saying, 'You're right, someone contaminated your water. But it wasn't us. It was that guy.'"
Read more about the ongoing efforts to come up with tracing technology that can be used in drilling by clicking here. 

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