Impacts of Shale Gas Wastewater Disposal on Water Quality in Western Pennsylvania

Abstract

The safe disposal of liquid wastes associated with oil and gas production in the United States is a major challenge given their large volumes and typically high levels of contaminants. In Pennsylvania, oil and gas wastewater is sometimes treated at brine treatment facilities and discharged to local streams. This study examined the water quality and isotopic compositions of discharged effluents, surface waters, and stream sediments associated with a treatment facility site in western Pennsylvania. The elevated levels of chloride and bromide, combined with the strontium, radium, oxygen, and hydrogen isotopic compositions of the effluents reflect the composition of Marcellus Shale produced waters. The discharge of the effluent from the treatment facility increased downstream concentrations of chloride and bromide above background levels. Barium and radium were substantially (>90%) reduced in the treated effluents compared to concentrations in Marcellus Shale produced waters. Nonetheless, 226 Ra levels in stream sediments (544−8759 Bq/kg) at the point of discharge were ∼200 times greater than upstream and background sediments (22−44 Bq/kg) and above radioactive waste disposal threshold regulations, posing potential environmental risks of radium bioaccumulation in localized areas of shale gas wastewater disposal.

Evaluating the effects of living with contamination from the lens of trauma: a case study of fracking development in Alberta, Canada

“…Roy, Adams, and Robinson 2014;Howarth, Santoro, and Ingraffea 2012); water pollution and large water withdrawals (e.g. Warner et al 2013;Myers 2012;Rozel and Reaven 2012); earthquakes (e.g. Davies et al 2013;Kim 2013); and human health threats (e.g.…”

Radium and Barium Removal through Blending Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids with Acid Mine Drainage

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Evaluation of Environmental Hazard During Shale Gas Exploration Process in Poland in the Years 2012-2014

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