The city of Longmont is performing a study on water and air quality around the Union Reservoir, prior to hydraulic fracturing activities in the area. The Environmental Mass Spectrometry Laboratory at the University of Colorado Boulder, led by Dr. Imma Ferrer and Dr. E. Michael Thurman, is working in conjunction with Longmont’s water quality laboratory directed by Roberto Luna. The Center for Environmental Mass Spectrometry (CEMS) is a laboratory at the University of Colorado Boulder that focuses on the detection of pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic contaminants in water and evaluating the effectiveness of methods for removing these compounds.
The project for the City of Longmont is focused on the analysis of water for the identification of chemicals that are usually injected as part of the fracking fluid. This study is aimed to gather background water-quality data from Union Reservoir, which will provide Longmont with comparison data if contamination occurs in the future.
“As a Longmont resident, I feel proud that the city is taking this vanguard direction to protect our precious water supplies, and I am very excited to be part of it,” Imma Ferrer said.
This project also provides the city with reassurances that if there is a leak, spill, runoff or other migration from oil and gas sites, “It would be detected and reported based on these background measurements,” Mike Thurman said.
Learn More about the Center for Environmental Mass Spectrometry