In gas drilling, 'fracking' may not be the only threat to well water

Crystal Stroud is a 29-year-old hairdresser who lives in Marcellus Shale country, on a rural road in Bradford County, Pa., hard by a stream, across from a farm.

In February, a company called Chief Oil and Gas began drilling a natural gas well about 1,200 feet from her house. In March, she says, she started noticing clumps of hair falling out in the shower.

She was at the outset of an ordeal that raises questions as to whether natural gas drilling courts risks of water contamination that go beyond the process known as "fracking."

About a week after the hair in the shower, Stroud called to her husband in a panic:

"I said ... oh my God there's something wrong and he put his hand to my chest and he said I can feel it, it's beating hard. I said I feel like I'm out of breath constantly....

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