Members of the Binghamton University community are expressing concerns for the future of Vestal’s drinking water due to the effects of “hydrofracking,” a method of drilling for natural gas.

Thousands of documents recently obtained by The New York Times from the Environmental Protection Agency, state regulators and drillers show that the wastewater produced by hydrofracking contains dangerous materials and is often not properly treated before it is released into waterways used for cities’ drinking water like the Susquehanna River, which provides drinking water for communities from Binghamton to Baltimore.

Hydrofracking releases natural gas from subsurface rock formations by drilling into the ground and pumping water and chemicals down to fracture the bedrock, allowing the gas to bubble up to the surface. A hydrofracking well can produce over a million gallons of wastewater, which often contains highly corrosive salts, carcinogens, radioactive elements and the chemicals used in the process.

In Pennsylvania, this wastewater is sometimes trucked to sewage plants and then discharged into rivers that supply drinking water, sometimes just miles upstream from the drinking water intake plants. According to The New York Times, the sewage plants are not equipped to test or treat the fracking water sufficiently to remove its harmful components before discharging it.

“There’s very limited capability in Pennsylvania for appropriate treatment of this wastewater,” said Karen Salvage, associate professor and undergraduate director of the geological sciences and environmental studies department at Binghamton University. “These sewage treatment plants are basically there to remove organic material — things that come out of kitchens and bathrooms. Not heavy metals. Not uranium. They just simply were not designed for that.”

According to Salvage, wastewater can also leak into the environment through tears in the lining of man-made storage pits, burst hoses, failed connections and human errors during the actual fracking process.

For some, however, the potential benefits of hydrofracking outweigh the cost. Environmentalists say that natural gas burns cleaner than coal and oil, while others see drilling as a source of jobs and a way to relieve America’s dependence on foreign oil.

“Natural gas is a natural resource,” Salvage said. “We do need energy, and I think it’s unrealistic at this point to say that we’re just not going to tap into this reserve, that we just can’t do it. The question is how do you do it safely?”

This is a question the EPA will be asking this year, when it undertakes a new study of the risks of natural gas drilling.

Salvage said she supported instituting standards for contaminants in wastewater emissions.

“There should be some standard of regulation for what’s coming out into that receiving body of water,” Salvage said.

Currently, BU’s water is supplied by one of three 150-foot wells on the east end of the Town of Vestal. The water is treated in facilities owned by the town — it is disinfected with chlorine, a fluoride is added for dental health, and a phosphate is added for corrosion control. The Health Department samples the water at different times throughout the year to ensure that it is safe for consumption.

Scott Groats, the Town of Vestal’s water superintendent, said that no hydrofracking will be taking place in the immediate location of the water supply. He said that the state will set a minimum distance requirement and that the town could either accept this distance or set a greater one.

Salvage said that although she thought this minimum distance might be one step to addressing the issue, it would not protect those who have private wells, which are not tested by the EPA for safety.

“A municipal water supply can do lots of testing, but usually a homeowner with a private well doesn’t have the money or know where to go to get it tested,” Salvage said. “The concern is how fast these fluids are moving in the subsurface. If you test six months after the hydrofracking, something could show up in seven months. How do you know when to stop testing?”

The University is currently exploring the option of building its own wells on campus to supply its own water. This option could potentially save the University money and protect against the harmful effects of hydrofracking.

“We’d essentially be tapping into the same aquifer [as the Town of Vestal] but at a different location,” Salvage said. “The water would still come from groundwater by the Susquehanna River, but our wells would be upstream from theirs. As long as there are no hydrofracking wells upstream from us our water would be protected from contamination. It just depends on how close the fracking takes place.”

Some students and groups on campus have raised objections to the Binghamton University Foundation’s leasing of a 562-acre University-owned property in the town of Union for five years to Chesapeake Appalachia, a branch of Chesapeake Energy, to conduct hydrofracking. The land was leased for $1.4 million.

Sheila Doyle, associate executive director of the Foundation, said that the Foundation worked with legal and environmental advisers before signing an agreement with Chesapeake Appalachia.

“The agreement includes a series of stringent environmental protection clauses, including water-tasting tests to be conducted prior to and post drilling,” Doyle said. “If and when the moratorium is lifted and gas drilling takes place on the property, the potential revenue earned from the agreement will benefit the entire Binghamton University community.”

Sarah Lister, a junior double-majoring in biology and environmental studies, said she disagreed with the decision to lease the property.

“They are leasing away the name of my University and the environmental science degree that I am pursuing,” Lister said. “I think this will at the very least strip BU of it’s ‘green’ sash for being an environmentally concerned campus.”