Between the Poles

GeoBuiz 2016: High volume geospatial imagery processing requires new architecture

DigitalGlobe owns and operates a constellation of commercial earth observation satellites.  The latest is Worldview-3 which is capable of about 30 cm precision.  Digital Globe's satellites collect 3,000,000 square kilometers of Earth imagery every day, that's about 70 terabytes of data per day.  Digital Globe also provides online access to 15 years of earth imagery, about 90 petabytes.  Of all high-resolution commercial imagery collected since 2010, Digital Globe has collected approximately 80% of it.  Clearly as a user you can't download all of this data, so how can users do things like search through this huge data set and generate a product such as a vegetation map for Tanzania ?

At the GeoBuiz 2016 Summit in Bethesda this week, Walter Scott, CTO and Founder, outlined how  Digital Globe is making this vast amount of high resolution data accessible to and usable by customers.  To make it possible for customers to search and process this data efficiently, Digital Globe has put all of the data on the public cloud (Amazon) and has provided a platform that supports efficient search, processing and workflows. GBDX is an online environment for efficiently running advanced algorithms for information extraction from imagery datasets at scale.  It is a set of RESTful APIs, and algorithms that have already been implemented by Digital Globe or its partners include car counting, orthorectification, land use, land cover, and atmospheric compensation. 

One of the most important efficiencies of the GBDX architecture is that it avoids having to move huge volumes of data over the internet.  It does this by bringing the application to the data, rather than the data to the application.  For example, to search through the data, GBDX provides a catalog API that uses 39 different image attributes such as geographic location, cloud cover percentage, sensor type, sun angle and others.  The search runs locally on Amazon, avoiding pushing data over the internet.

The GBDX API includes support for workflows.   A workflow is a sequence of tasks executed against sets of data. A typical workflow is initiated with a search for the data you want to process.  The selected data is assigned to a working set, and then processed  through a sequence of steps to generate your desired product.   For example, a typical product would be an orthorectified vegetation map.  Again the workflow runs locally on Amazon, avoiding pushing data over the internet during processing.  Only the final product resulting from the workflow, such as a vegetation map, would be transferred over the internet to the customer.

GBDX uses the cloud infrastructure of Amazon Web Service (AWS).  Data is stored in S3 ‘buckets’ that are accessed through GBDX RESTful web service APIs. GBDX includes built in tools supporting remote sensing algorithms from DigitalGlobe and ENVI.  GBDX is python-friendly and allows you create your own tools.

One of the application areas that the platform makes possible is deep learning.  The basic concept is that software can simulate the brain's large array of neurons as an artificial “neural network".  Large volumes of input data and some way of quantitatively assessing the results are required to train the system.  With the greater depth enabled by new computers and algorithms, remarkable advances in speech and image recognition are being achieved.  For example, a Google deep-learning system that had been shown 10 million images from YouTube videos proved almost twice as good as any previous image recognition effort at identifying objects such as cats.  Microsoft has demonstrated speech software that transcribes spoken words into English text with an error rate of only 7 percent.

But deep learning requires a lot of compute power and a lot of training.  GBDX provides the computational power to apply deep learning to earth observation and Digital Globe's data library can provide the training data sets.  What is required is a scalable way of assessing and quantifying the results. Walter Scott suggested crowd sourcing as a way of achieving the scale required for earth observation training.

GITA PNW: Maintaining high quality location data about underground infrastructure pays off

At the 16th Annual GITA Pacific Northwest Conference, John Himmel, Manager GIS, at FortisBC Energy gave an overview of a remarkable geospatial solution that FortisBC will be deploying this summer.  It is a new online application service that will be available to those of the public who wish to apply for gas services. Customers will have access to a GIS map showing the location of FortisBC underground gas lines, which will enable them to know if gas is available at their location.  If it is, they will be able to see the estimated costs and arrange for a FortisBC construction crew to come and connect their home or business.  Since FortisBC receives about 50,000 calls for new service annually of which it is estimated that 2/3 can be responded to and new services scheduled by the online system, this represents a potentially large savings for FortisBC.

FortisBC's new service is remarkable for two reasons.  First of all, displaying the location of utility underground infrastructure publicly is not common.  I blogged about a water utility in North Shore City in New Zealand one of the few utilities that I am aware of that has made maps of its underground infrastructure publicly available.  

Secondly, it requires high quality data about the location of FortisBC's gas infrastructure.  Many utilities would be unable to deploy an online service application like this one, because they would not have sufficient confidence in the reliability of the information about the location of their underground infrastructure in their GIS to present is publicly.

FortisBC has been able to maintain high quality information about their underground infrastructure which has enabled them to be confident about deploying an online service application.  As further evidence of the quality of FortisBC's information about its underground infrastructure, they average about 900 pipe locate tickets every day.  These originate primarily from BC One Call and come from people who intend to excavate somewhere in FortisBC's service territory.  Because FortisBC's data about the location of its underground infrastructure is so good, 95% of these requests are handled within 12 minutes and do not require a truck roll.  Avoiding truck rolls for pipe locates represents another major source of savings arising from the quality of their GIS data.

There are many other benefits that are expected with the new online service application.  It represents a new way to interact with customers. Like many utilities, FortisBC is forging a new relationship with its customers and is going beyond just sending a bill every month.  The online system also ensures crew availability before scheduling a new hookup with the customer.  The online system also provides a automatic sales lead for FortisBC sales folks to follow up on if gas is not available at the customer location or if providing the requested service is not simple.  In addition for a significant number of new gas service installations, the customer is not prepared when the crew shows up.  The gas hookup has to be rescheduled and this wastes the crew's valuable time.  The new online system will send email reminders to the customer in advance, which will reduce the number of hookups that have to rescheduled because of customer unpreparedness.  Finally, the online system creates internal efficiencies and productivity savings by simplifying and automating processes that are currently largely manual.

GeoBuiz Summit April 26-27 includes construction, utilities, UAVs and cubesats

GeoBuiz Summit is an innovative conference that brings together key industry innovators and leaders to discuss and share knowledge and experience about the evolving technology trends, market behavior, and business models in the geospatial community including vertical markets such as construction and utilities.

Some of the themes in this year's conference include

• Geospatial Technology Trends and Business Models
  • Includes Sanjay Kumar, CEO, Geospatial Media;  Bryn Fosburgh, Vice President, Trimble;   Bradley Skelton, Chief Technology Officer, Hexagon Geospatial; Walter Scott, Founder and CTO, DigitalGlobe; and Bhupinder Singh, Chief Product Officer, Bentley
• BIM: Empowering Infrastructure lifecycle
  • Includes Roger Grant, National Institute of Building Sciences and Tracy McLane, Bechtel Infrastructure and moderated by Deke Smith, buildingSmart
• UTILITIES: Critical Infrastructure Operations and Management
  • Joel Campbell, Avineon; Peter Batty, Ubisense; Geoff Zeiss, Between the Poles; Matthew Thomas, NovaraGeo and president-elect of GITA; Elizabeth Z. Bialek, East Bay Municipal Utility District; Ramzi K. Bannura, AGSI USA; Dr. Henk Von Riessen, Wade Inc (John Deere); and Ben Mallen, Trimble
• EARTH OBSERVATION: Innovation and Socio Economic Benefits
  • Includes Rich Leshner, Planet Labs and John Fenvick, Google (Skybox Imaging)
• UAVs Technology, Applications and Policies
• Includes Dan Morgan, Chief Data officer, U.S. Department of Transportation
• Geospatial for Internal Security & Emergency
• Includes Michael Roosa, Senior Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Department of Justice

SGIP selected to lead Orange Button initiative

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced $4 million for projects to launch the Orange Button℠ initiative.  To understand the financial risk of solar energy project development, the solar energy community relies on fragmented datasets released by state energy offices and a limited number of private organizations regarding project origination, grid integration, operations, and retirement. These datasets vary widely in format, quality, and content, which makes it difficult for potential providers to have an accurate understanding of potential markets. The goal of the the Orange Button project is to standardize this data which will ensure a more standardized and transparent marketplace.

The DoE selected four organizations, Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) , SunSpec Alliance, kWh Analytics, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), to lead the Orange Button initiative.  The goal is to create a widely adoptable, unified data standard for the solar industry.  SGIP is receiving $600,000 to help organize and monitor the Orange Button℠ initiative. 

A robust data infrastructure for the solar industry is needed to enable rapid and seamless data exchanges between producers and consumers of solar data. It is estimated that a reduction in the cost of capital as a result of better access to solar data will reduce risk and could result in savings of nearly $9 billion over the next 10 years to solar users.

The Orange Button initiative is modeled on the very successful Green Button initiative which enabled consumers to share their electric power usage information with third parties.  Orange Button, which was originally named Solar Bankability Data to Advance Transactions and Access, aims at reducing soft costs through standards for the  collection, security, management, exchange, and monetizing of solar datasets across the value chain of solar energy.

GITA PNW: Geolocating dangerous underground utility intersections is big business

At the 16th Annual GITA Pacific Northwest Conference at the Boeing Future of Flight Museum in Mukilteo WA, David Steiger gave a fascinating presentation about one of the major problems arising from our poor knowledge about the location of underground infrastructure.  Cross bores are gas, power or telecom cables and pipes that bisect sewer pipes.  Horizontal directional drilling (HDD), percussion moles and plows are trenchless techniques used to install natural gas distribution and other utility lines. These boring drill heads can easily go through sewer pipes without the driller being aware of it.  Since the location of underground sewer pipes, either main line or laterals connecting the main pipes to houses, are only poorly known, cross bores are widespread.  Hydromax USA specializes in detecting and mapping cross bores.  In their experience in high risk, densely populated areas, as many as 3 cross bores per mile of natural gas distribution mainline have been found.  The average is about 0.4 cross bores per mile. 

Cross bores are dangerous.  A typical scenario is that the cross bore leads to an obstruction in a sewer pipe.  If this is a lateral, the house owner calls a plumber.  The plumber bores out the lateral with a sewer cleaning machine that has a head that can cut through tree roots, the typical source of backed up sewers, and telecom or electric power cables or gas pipes with ease.  The first documented case of a gas main being cut happened in 1976 and the resulting gas explosion killed two people and seriously injured four more.  According to Hydromax the highest claim paid for a single cross bore incident was reported at $30,000,000. 

Hydromax USA uses a robotic device that travels down sewer pipes including laterals and identifies and records the location of cross bores.  Whenever they are found, the responsible utility rolls a truck a fixes them.  Finding these problems is big business.  Hydromax estimates that in the U.S. the total market for identifying and geolocating cross bores is about $1 billion per year.

Increased recognition of the injury, death and damage caused from cross bores has resulted in federal and state regulatory action. For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s 2011 Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) requirements of Distribution Integrity Management Program (DIMP) is intended to increase the integrity of gas distribution systems.

This problem is so prevalent that the Cross Bore Safety Association has been formed.  The CBSA is a community of industry professional that have joined together to address all aspects of utility cross bores for protection against loss of life, injury and property damage.

SPAR2016: Augmented reality is finally going to happen, on smartphones

I am back from two remarkable days at the Spar 3D Expo and Conference in Houston.  One thing that has stuck in my mind, because it is likely going to impact all of us, is augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality.  AR has been around for a very long time, but has been used for very specific and narrow purposes such as training for space missions, has required a heavy iron computing platform, a heavy head harness and heavy lenses, and has been very expensive.  Paul Davies of Boeing traced the history of AR including its progress on and off the Gartner hype cycle;

• Innovation trigger 2004-2006, 2008-2009 (dropped altogether in 2007)
• Peak of inflated expectations 2010-2012,
• Trough of disillusionment 2013-2015.

According to the hype cycle, AR is positioned for the slope of enlightenment leading to the plateau of productivity where it starts contributing to solving some of the world's challenges.

David Smith, CTO, Wearality gave a very informed presentation on augmented reality that identified the critical issues that have held up the technology.  He made a convincing case for why AR is poised to take off - not on PCs, but on smartphones.

Platform

According to Gartner, PC shipments declined by 8.3 % in 4Q2015.  Smartphone shipments continue to rise, almost exponentially.  Current and future investment in platforms is going into smartphones, not PCs.  While AR for PCs will continue to ship, mobile AR will quickly outstrip AR for PCs.  With one exception all the technologies that AR requires are available on smartphones.  The implication is that the future of mass AR is mobile AR.

3D

You can make the case that there is so much 3D technology and data out there that we have reached the critical mass where we need an inherently 3D platform to take advantage of it.  Games led the way, but now construction (BIM), mechanical design, GIS, and other important sectors have moved into 3D in a major way. 

Last year the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has approved the Augmented Reality Markup Language 2.0 Interface Standard (ARML 2.0).  ARML 2.0 provides a free and open, non-proprietary encoding that content providers can use to specify the location and visual appearance of real world objects and virtual objects in an augmented reality scene. Additionally, ARML 2.0 defines a Javascript interface for communicating how user input selects, queries and dynamically changes the properties of these virtual objects.

Paul Davies of Boeing gave a specific example of an experiment conducted at Boeing where using AR to instruct a worker in the complex process of a wing assembly was found to be much more effective than providing a PDF manual with detailed instructions.  The AR process combined real images of the components and the work space with virtual demonstrations in 3D showing the worker which components went where and exactly how to put them in place.  The results of the experiment showed that the quality of the worker's first attempt to assemble the wing was much better with the AR instruction and the time she required to assemble the wing was 1/3 faster.

Optics

David said that the one technology that is required and is not currently available for mobile AR is lenses.  Current lenses have less than a 100 degrees field of view, suffer from chromatic aberration, are out of focus in the peripheral areas, and are much too heavy.  Google Cardboard has a small field of view (70 degrees), while HTC Vive and Oculus with 95 degrees are not a lot better.   From David's perspective this is the bottleneck that has held up mobile AR.

Now Wearality has developed acrylic lenses that are incredibly light-weight, have a 160 degree field of view when used with a smartphone, enable natural peripheral vision, and are foldable and pocketable.  David allowed us to try them attached to a smart phone.  The light weight, the wide field of vision and that I could use them with my glasses left me with the experience of IMAX, but without the theatre.

David foresees that even the next smartphone, or possibly the one after that, that you buy will be running AR out of the box.  If you have wondered where Michael Jones, of Keyhole and Google Maps fame, has landed, he is now CEO of Wearality, which confirms for me that Wearality is very likely on to something and that all of us with smartphones have AR in our immediate future.

SPAR 3D: Virtual reality, scan to BIM, infrastructure models, and mapping indoor spaces

I have just experienced two remarkable days at the Spar 3D Expo and Conference in The Woodlands, Texas, in itself a remarkable location near Houston.  I will blog in more detail in the near future about the things and people I had the opportunity to experience over the past two days.

First of all, virtual reality.  Everyone is aware of the Oculus Rift (see the new review at CNET if you aren't).  There are other technologies that have come or are coming from Samsung, Sony and Google.  But at SPAR 3D the most remarkable VR technology I personally experienced was what David Smith, CTO of Wearaility, talked about and allowed me and others to try - a set of incredibly light-weight glasses with acrylic lenses designed to work with a smartphone that gives you a virtual experience comparable to IMAX without the IMAX theatre.  I tried it and found it an absolutely amazing surround experience.  And if you have wondered where Michael Jones, of Keyhole and Google Maps fame, has landed, he is now CEO of Wearality.

Secondly, my personal passion is the geolocation of underground utilities.  At SPAR 3D Mark Klusza, Founder & CTO, Real-time Metrology, Inc. described a major new advance in ground penetrating radar (GPR) technology he has developed that can detect a 3/4 inch rebar (among other things) four feet below the surface in clay.

For existing buildings creating a BIM model remains an art rather than science.  But at SPAR 3D a number of new technologies were presented that can help automate, improve the quality, and speed the process.  Foremost among them in my mind was presented by Nicolas Arnold, VP of Product Development, at SKUR.  With SKUR's technology, which runs in the cloud, you can compare the 3D model that you have developed with the point cloud you derived the model from and identify all the points of significant variance.  The same technology can also be used during a construction project to compare what has been built to what was designed - even when the building is only partially completed.

Ron Singh, Engineering Automation Manager/Chief of Surveys, Oregon Department of Transportation (DoT) described progress on his remarkable vision of how automation is upending how we design, build and monitor, operate and maintain U.S. highway systems.  Richard Arrowsmith, Asset Information Group Team Leader, Highways England described the digital model of the English highway system.  Stan Burns, President, Integrated Inventory, who has just retired from Utah DoT, described Utah DoT's comprehensive database of every piece of highway furniture and signage in the Utah highway system.  Together these represent the future of the digitalization of national highway systems.

A new company, Indoor Reality, is the third startup of Dr Avideh Zakhor, who is on leave from the University of California Berkeley.  Her new device is a backpack loaded with sensors including lasers and infrared that enables you to map the interior of buildings by simply walking through a multi-floor building, including up and down stairs.  The resulting data can be used to automatically generate floor plans and 3D models and captures everything you need for an Energy Plus analysis.

Mark Shell and Darrell Gadberry, both of the City of Fort Worth Water Department, described a very versatile device with laser and sonar and camera devices on board that can be used for sewer line inspections of small and large diameter sewer pipes.  Fundamentally this device enables condition-based maintenance of municipal sewer systems.  Mark and Darrell reported that it has saved the Fort Worth Water Department $42 million.

I was able to interview Dr Avideh Zakhor, Nicolas Arnold, Ron Singh, Larry Kleinkemper of Lanmar Services who specialize in creating BIM models for existing buildings, and Greg Bentley of Bentley who has a broad, forward-looking perspective on the "digitalization" of infrastructure.

Over $4 million awarded for fracking contaminated drinking water

In the culmination of a court case running for seven years, a jury in Pennsylvania found that Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation had been negligent and had contaminated the drinking water of two families near Dimock, Pennsylvania.  $4.24 million was awarded to the two families.  Cabot began drilling and fracking the Marcellus shale formation near Dimock in 2008.

As I have blogged about, a series of ProPublica reports identified instances where it was claimed that ground water had been contaminated in drilling areas across the United States.  The film Gasland showed examples of combustible tap water (methane in tap water) and other effects in drinking water attributed to fracking. 

The serious concerns about hydraulic fracturing’s potential impact on drinking water, human health and the environment had become serious enough that Congress appropriated funding for the EPA to undertake a major study of hydraulic fracturing and its impact on drinking water.Needless to say there is a lot of money and jobs involved.  Hence, the study was very controversial and the oil/gas companies did not cooperate.   Based on the limited evidence the EPA was able to collect, the study's draft executive summary said that it had not found evidence of "systemic, widespread effects on drinking water".  But even the study's Science Advisory Board (SAB) disagreed with the conclusion, saying the evidence did suggest a wider problem.

 A recent study by academics from Stanford in a peer-reviewed journal (Environ. Sci. Technol.,March 29, 2016, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b04970) has confirmed that fracking did pollute an aquifer in Pavillion, Wyoming.  The authors state "that they have, for the first time, demonstrated impact to Underground Sources of Drinking Water (USDWs) as a result of hydraulic fracturing."

The U.S. is predicted to become the biggest oil producer in the world, ahead of Saudi.  This is largely because of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and other well stimulation techniques, both for natural gas and oil.  There are over half a million natural gas wells in the U.S.   "Unconventional oil and gas" as fracking is often referred to has become a significant part of the U.S. economy employing millions.

But the environmental cost of fracking remains uncertain.  In 2005 Congress passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which was an omnibus energy bill (that among many other things changed daylight savings time in the US).  Among the provisions of the bill was one (the so-called "Halliburton loophole") that exempted hydraulic fracturing from protections under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Safe Drinking Water Act, which means that fracking has never been regulated at the federal level (EPA).

The 2005 bill, which was passed during the GW Bush administration, prevented the EPA from doing any assessment of the environmental impact of "wild west" drilling and fracking.  However, in the last few years so many reports and two documentary films including Gasland have been circulating about water contamination from fracking that Congress authorized the EPA to do the study of the impact of fracking on drinking water quality.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. has asked the courts to set aside a jury’s recent verdict.

Hawaiian power utilities to deploy smart grid to support 100% renewable goal

Keep a close watch on the Hawaiian power utilities (HECO) because Hawaii has committed to 100% renewables by 2045 and 65% by 2030. That was the recommendation of Sharon Allan, CEO of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) in response to a question asking what should utilities do to get ready for Grid 3.0.

Hawaii has seen an exponential rise in rooftop solar PV. Hawaii already has 487 MW of solar PV capacity, 90% of which is residential rooftop panels.  As a result since 2010 the utility has been experiencing a reduction in net load and revenue. The most dramatic drop in load is during daytime hours as is readily apparent by comparing the utility's load on clear and cloudy days which reflects the impact of residential solar PV. 

Last week Hawaiian Electric Co.  asked the state PUC to approve a $340 million Smart Grid Foundation Project.  The companies are requesting permission from the PUC to install smart grid technology for more than 455,000 customers on O'ahu, Hawai'i Island and in Maui County. The application includes a wireless communication network, smart meters and automation technology. The expected benefits are improved outage detection and restoration, provision of electricity usage information to help customers manage their power usage, and automated services such as remote meter reads and connect/disconnect requests. Customers will also have access to a energy portal, accessible on mobile and other devices, to provide more control over their energy usage.  But perhaps most importantly this is an important prerequisite to reaching Hawai'i's 100 percent renewable electricity goal.  This will require a rate increase, estimated for residential customers at about 23 cents per month for 20 years.  Reportedly, commercial customers will bear more of the cost.

HECO collects a large amount of data from diverse sources. It is comprised of internal operational data plus data from esternal sources. It includes weather forecasts, data from customer sited PV, consumer/public resource data, phasor (PMU) data, renewables power quality, feeder data, irradiance meters, generator and substations power quality, SCADA, and vendor data such as forecasts and data from Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Much of this includes location.  Geospatial technology is fundamental to integrating this data.  Advanced spatial analytics will allow Hawaiian power utilities to extract actionable information in real time.

Fundamental to distributed energy management is another geospatial data source, historical, current and forecast weather maps.  Maps of irradiance and wind velocity are key to monitoring and predicting solar and wind generation in different parts of the islands.  Temperature maps are also important because the efficiency of solar panels depends on temperature.  The more accurate the weather forecasts are, the more predictable the generation.  Knowing that there it will be cloudy over the south of Oahu, but sunny over the rest of the island, or cloudy over the whole island, but with moderate to strong winds allows operations to estimate how much backup generation is required and where. 

Confirmation of drinking water contamination by fracking suggests widespread problem

A new study that confirms drinking water contamination by fracking, something the EPA has been unable to do, signals the beginning of a process to assess the environmental cost of "wildwest" drilling and fracking.  This study relates to drinking water contamination.  The other area where reports are also circulating about the environmental cost of fracking is the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.

The U.S. is predicted to become the biggest oil producer in the world, ahead of Saudi.  This is largely because of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and other well stimulation techniques, both for natural gas and oil.  There are over half a million natural gas wells in the U.S.  There are even wells at the Forth Worth airport to give you a feel for how ubiquitous they are in parts of the U.S. and Alberta.  "Unconventional oil and gas" as fracking is often referred to has become a significant part of the U.S. economy employing millions.

But the environmental cost of fracking remains uncertain.  In 2005 Congress passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which was an omnibus energy bill (that among many other things changed daylight savings time in the US).  Among the provisions of the bill was one (the so-called "Halliburton loophole") that exempted hydraulic fracturing from protections under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Safe Drinking Water Act, which means that fracking has never been regulated at the federal level (EPA).

The 2005 bill, which was passed during the GW Bush administration, prevented the EPA from doing any assessment of the environmental impact of "wild west" drilling and fracking.  However, in the last few years so many reports (and a film) have been circulating about water contamination from fracking that Congress authorized the EPA to do a study of the impact of fracking on drinking water quality. 

Needless to say there is a lot of money and jobs involved.  Hence, the study was very controversial and the oil/gas companies did not cooperate.   Based on the limited evidence the EPA was able to collect, the study's draft executive summary said that it had not found evidence of "systemic, widespread effects on drinking water".  But even the study's Science Advisory Board (SAB) disagreed with the conclusion, saying the evidence did suggest a wider problem.

Now a study by academics from Stanford in a peer-reviewed journal (Environ. Sci. Technol.,March 29, 2016, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b04970) has confirmed that fracking did pollute an aquifer in Pavillion, Wyoming.  The authors state "that they have, for the first time, demonstrated impact to Underground Sources of Drinking Water (USDWs) as a result of hydraulic fracturing."

The study involved a comprehensive analysis of all publicly available data and reports to evaluate the impact to underground drinking water sources as a result of acid stimulation (pumping acids into a well to stimulate the flow of gas or oil) and hydraulic fracturing in the Pavillion, WY, Field.  The study found that the concentrations of major ions such as chloride in samples of water from the geology surrounding wells were outside the expected levels for the aquifer, in other words, injected water and chemicals had leaked into the surrounding rock. They also found direct evidence of  leakoff of stimulation fluids into surrounding rock and inadequate casings during stimulation at several production wells.  The authors concluded that acid stimulation and fracking had impacted (polluted) the aquifer.

 

Furthermore, the authors found evidence of organic chemicals used for well stimulation in samples from two monitoring wells that had been drilled by EPA.  This was interpreted as additional evidence of impact to the aquifer and indicated that the chemicals had migrated upwards into the aquifer used for drinking water.

 

They also compiled well depths at which stimulation and fracking occurred and compared them to to the depths of drinking water wells. They found that well stimulation occurred many times at less than 500 meters from the surface and, in some cases, at or very close to depths of the deepest domestic wells.   This is evidence of shallow hydraulic fracturing, which has been shown to be of higher risk to drinking water sources than deeper hydraulic fracturing,  especially given the issues found and documented in several wells in the Pavillion field.

 

In addition they  found evidence of diesel range and other organic chemicals in domestic wells less than 600 meters from unlined pits that had been used prior to the mid-1990s to dispose of diesel-fuel based drilling mud and production fluids.

And because there is nothing especially unique about the geology and drilling around Pavillion, the study suggested that this is likely evidence of a wider problem, "given the high frequency of injection of stimulation fluids into USDWs..., it is unlikely that impact to USDWs is limited to the Pavillion Field requiring investigation elsewhere."

The problem is likely poor drilling practices and management of "produced water" because of lax or no regulation.  If the drillers neglect to put in concrete casings or if they are insufficient and leak, then the chemicals (including known carcinogens) injected into the well can get into drinking water sources.  If the water returning to the surface containing a variety of chemicals (produced water) is stored in unlined ponds as it used to be, this can also get into drinking water sources.