"We're not jumping out of our seats, pulling our hair out, about the Marcellus Shale," said Christopher S. Crockett, director of planning and research. "We want to take a constructive, scientific approach, not polarize people."
The department's quiet strategy will be scrutinized Tuesday when City Council conducts a hearing to examine the perils and promise of Marcellus drilling.
Anti-drilling activists have lobbied council members to oppose gas development, saying that the hydraulic fracturing process used to extract gas represents an imminent threat to the city's water. The process, known as fracking, involves the high-pressure injection of water, sand, and chemicals deep underground to release gas molecules.
"I find it sort of disappointing that the Water Department is not taking a more proactive first-do-no-harm approach," said David Masur, executive director of PennEnvironment, the statewide advocacy group.
He and other activists say Philadelphia should follow the lead of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, whose opposition to Marcellus development has galvanized political activists in the Empire State, resulting in a moratorium on fracking.
"I think the Philadelphia Water Department needs to be more assertive, like New York City," said Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, an environmental advocacy group.
Philadelphia officials say they have not taken as rigid a stand as New York City because the city's water system is distinctly different from New York's. Shale-gas drilling represents an altogether different challenge for New York, they say.
