Thousands of oil and gas wells are drilled in the United States each year with no adverse impact upon groundwater or private water wells. In fact, well construction requirements are designed to prevent contamination of groundwater. Each well must be constructed with at least one string of steel casing that has been properly cemented. A layer of cement surrounds the casing and completely fills the space between the casing and the rock through which the well is drilled. These measures ensure that no oil, gas, or other fluids produced from the well can ever come into contact with groundwater surrounding the well.
While there could be some turbidity associated with the initial drilling operations through the shallow fresh groundwater zone, these impacts will be localized and only temporary. The potential impacts are no different than what could occur whenever a water well is drilled through these same formations.