VAN BUREN CO., Ark. (KTHV) -- Crews hit the ground in Van Buren County today testing residential water wells.
The U.S. Geological Survey is trying to determine if there's any link between concerns over drinking water and natural gas drilling.
It's the first of many water well samples from Van Buren county, taken from Tom Kimmons' place in Shirley.
"In the last few years as the drilling and the dynamiting for the seismic testing went on, our well kept getting worse and worse and cloudier and cloudier, so didn't want to drink it," Kimmons said.
It's a concern now getting attention from the USGS.
Crews began day one of water sampling Wednesday-- in Fayetteville Shale territory.
"There's a gas well over here a quarter of a mile, there's one up here a half a mile and there's one behind me a quarter mile," Kimmons said.
"We're trying to collect both background and look for any potential effects from the shale gas industry," said water quality specialist Tim Kresse with the USGS.
Kresse says they're targeting 80 to 100 wells in Van Buren County. The ulimate goal -- determining if fracking contaminates well water. Fracking involves pumping water and sand at high pressure into the ground to break the shale apart.
"We want to get across the area as extensively as we can, there's going to be a lot more drilling in the future," Kresse said.
The sampling process first lets the wells run for a bit - purging stagnant water. Monitors like these help them know when good groundwater kicks in for sampling.
Homeowners here in Van Buren County tell us they're not in a rush to judgement against the natural gas companies with the water well testing. They just want the science done for peace of mind.
"They don't want to be on one side or another, they just want the science, the facts and the truth," Kimmons said.
It's a truth yet to be uncovered with these samples offering hope for answers. These samples will head to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and Duke University for analysis.
We're told it will take a month or two for results. More well testing will take place in Faulkner County as early as August.