Water use by the Marcellus Shale gas industry in Pennsylvania and West Virginia will be the subject of a web-based seminar offered by Penn State Extension on August 28 starting at noon.

The session will review what is known about the changing demand for and values associated with water used in shale-gas development and will feature related research findings.

Presenting "The Use and Value of Water for Marcellus Shale Gas Development" will be Charles Abdalla, professor of agricultural and environmental economics; Renata Rimsaite, a Penn State doctoral student in agricultural economics; and Alan Collins, professor and assistant director of the Division of Resource Management at West Virginia University.

They will cover the findings from their recent study of Pennsylvania and West Virginia public water suppliers that have sold water to shale-gas drilling companies.

"The information we collected included the amounts of water sold, rates charged and revenues generated," said Abdalla. "We'll present our results in light of the many factors that influence the value of water used in shale-gas development."

Also, the experiences of water system managers involved with these sales will be reported in the webinar.

The live webinar, which is part of the Water Resources Extension webinar series, is accessible simply by signing in as a "guest."

Recorded versions of each webinar in the series are available online.

8/26/2013