Research Articles: Oil and Gas Produced Water Management and Surface Drinking Water Sources in Pennsylvania

Abstract

Produced water from oil and gas development requires management to avoid negative public health effects, particularly those associated with dissolved solids and bromide in drinking water. Rapidly expanding drilling in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania has significantly increased the volume of produced water that must be managed. Produced water management may include treatment followed by surface water discharge, such as at publically owned wastewater treatment plants (POTWs) or centralized brine treatment plants (CWTs). The use of POTWs and CWTs that discharge partially treated produced water has the potential to increase salt loads to surface waters significantly. These loads may cause unacceptably high concentrations of dissolved solids or bromide in source waters, particularly when rivers are at low-flow conditions. The present study evaluates produced water management in Pennsylvania from 2006 through 2011 to determine whether surface water discharges were sufficient to cause salt or bromide loads that would negatively affect drinking water sources. The increase in produced water that occurred in 2008 in Pennsylvania was accompanied by an increase in use of CWTs and POTWs that were exempt from discharge limits on dissolved solids. Estimates of salt loads associated with produced water and with discharges from CWTs and POTWs in 2008 and 2009 indicate that more than 50% of the total dissolved solids in the produced water generated in those years were released to surface water systems. Especially during the low-flow conditions of 2008 and 2009, these loads would be expected to affect drinking water. Environmental Practice 14: 288-300 (2012)

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

“…These data support recent studies that suggest treatment facilities have an impact on concentrations of chloride throughout western PA. 6,12,13 These results also demonstrate that even a 500−3000 dilution of the wastewater effluent is not sufficient to reduce bromide content to background levels; thus, discharge of wastewater could potentially increases the concentrations of Br in downstream drinking-water treatment facilities. 6 Our data show that the geochemical signature of Marcellus wastewater is apparent, even after treatment, in the effluents from the treatment facility and in the downstream water and sediments. The majority of elemental chemistry and isotopic ratios (δ 18 O, δ 2 H, 87 Sr/ 86 Sr, 228 Ra/ 226 Ra) in treated wastewater effluents during 2010 and 2011 were similar to the compositions of flowback and produced waters from the Marcellus shale gas operations.…”

“…However, the overall bromide enrichment in river water could be critical to downstream municipal water treatment plants, given the potential formation of carcinogenic trihalomethane compounds in chlorinated drinking water upon chlorination of water with even slightly enriched bromide. 6,19 More reactive constituents such as Mg, Ca, Ba, Sr, and Na (SI Figures S3a−e) showed lower EFs in the wastewater effluent discharge (200 to 20 000), which likely reflects the partial removal of these metals during the treatment process. Much lower EFs (1−3) were also recorded in the downstream surface water sites, inferring an additional uptake of these elements in the river sediments and potentially limited impact on the streamwater quality.…”

Information Collection, Access, and Dissemination to Support Evidence‐Based Shale Gas Policies

“…[8] Spills on well pads or during transportation, leaks, and overflows from containment pits and improper treatment of wastewater can lead to the contamination of surface water, groundwater, and soil. [2,27,28] UGD has contributed to several documented cases of water contamination. Wastewater sent to publicly owned treatment works that were not equipped to treat such waste contributed to high loads of total dissolved solids in PA rivers in [2008][2009].…”

“…[41] Chemical analyses of waste streams, which well operators are required to submit to the DEP, are not published online or in a digital database by the DEP. To obtain this information through state open-record requests requires a significant amount of time, effort, and funds, [28] which can be prohibitive for individuals and small research institutions.…”

Density of river otters (Lontra canadensis) in relation to energy development in the Green River Basin, Wyoming

“…The Green and Little Snake Rivers, the headwaters of the Colorado River in Wyoming, provide essential water supplies for agriculture and urban use within the catchments as well as down river. Therefore, oil and gas developments may diminish water quality (Wilson and VanBriesen, 2012;Vidic et al, 2013) to a large region.…”