Good stewardship and being a good neighbor used to be values that everyone admired. There was once widespread concern about what we would reap if we caused harm to innocents. People regulated their behavior in fear of consequences.

Today, those lines seem to have blurred and consequences are far and few in between. Type the words ‘tap water fire’ into your favorite search engine and nearly 400 links to videos will appear. Across the United States it's becoming more common for homeowners to watch fire erupt from their tap as the water is exposed to open flame. This is a by-product of the practice of fracking whereas natural gas is now seeping into resident's drinking water wells.

In response to this "tap water fire", various factions are engaging in energetic finger pointing. This isn’t surprising. A few years after we purchased our home we witnessed a similar event. Less than 5 miles from us, fish were found floating dead in homeowners’ ponds. The ensuing investigation found that a chemical dump had occurred. A nearby manufacturing plant denied that they had anything to do with the mishap and publicly stated that all their chemicals were non-toxic and biodegradable. Apparently, no one told the fish.

The corporation went bankrupt, paid a relatively small fine and went away. The local government paid off the lawyers and investigators, complimented themselves on a job well done and financed the cleanup with taxes. People that had worked a lifetime to pay for their home now had property that no one else wanted and higher taxes. No studies were done to determine the long-term health effects on residents, the safety of local ponds for swimming, or whether locally harvested fish and produce were safe to eat.

For all of the posturing and outrage, corporations are still able to legally endanger public health and spoil clean water sources with methods such as high volume hydraulic earth fracturing, also known as fracking. Used to help extract natural gas reserves, this drilling method fractures rock deep within the earth using thousands of gallons of pressurized water and toxic chemicals. It's starting to gain national attention with the help of a recent documentary called Gasland that aired this summer on HBO. It focused on the environmental and health consequences of natural gas drilling and painted a dire picture highlighting the severity of the problem.

Fracking results in contaminated waste, and often results in gas finding its way into the drinking water of nearby landowners. While there is much discussion, little of it is regarding how to help restore what has been lost. Investigative reporters are given awards and politicians issue sound bites while landowners are left to deal with the resulting aftermath.

The few champions who stand against these important issues are often muted by corporate media campaigns. Public opinion seems easily swayed by bumper stickers and t-shirt slogans. When did we begin to require a political affiliation or activist group to tell us what to think about industrial practices that dirty the water and endanger public health? This phenomenon of fracking contamination is increasing and the public should be aware of the consequences and potential risks to their drinking water.

For these reasons, I see the safety of my family’s drinking water as a personal responsibility and not something I can afford to entrust to the safekeeping of others. If I want to be SURE I’m not serving my family dangerous toxins in their glass of water, I need to take the time to filter the water that comes out of my faucet.