Surface disposal of produced waters in western and southwestern Pennsylvania: Potential for accumulation of alkali-earth elements in sediments

Evolution of water chemistry during Marcellus Shale gas development: A case study in West Virginia

“…Warner et al (2013) reported accumulations of radium isotopes in stream sediments at a produced water treatment facility discharge point in Pennsylvania. And Skalak et al (2014) found accumulations of 226 Ra and Sr in roadside soils resulted from the use of road spreading of brines from oil and gas wells for deicing.…”

“…The activity of NORM is largely a function of the amount of flowback that has come in contact with the sediment over time. A compilation of historical and recent 226 Ra and 228 Ra activity data for produced waters in the northern Appalachian Basin showed that while produced waters in general are enriched in Ra, those from the Marcellus are $2 to 5 times higher than conventional oil and gas wells for a given salinity (Rowan et al, 2011(Rowan et al, , 2015Skalak et al, 2014). Kramer and Reid (1984) and Fisher (1998) found a strong positive correlation between formation-water salinity and Ra activity, and suggested that soluble Ra results from the interaction of formation water with the aquifer matrix.…”

Organic and inorganic composition and microbiology of produced waters from Pennsylvania shale gas wells

“…Given the significant dissolved SO 4 in the injected water (ranging from 63 to 774 mg/L in injected fluids in southwestern PA), the high Ba contents in the PW could lead to scaling within the industrial infrastructure (Crabtree et al, 1999) and these fluids would require treatment to precipitate Ba prior to reinjection. The high Sr, Ca, and Na concentrations in these fluids is also of concern for disposal strategies, as these elements were shown to accumulate in sediments adjacent to roads after road spreading of conventional oil and gas brines for deicing (Skalak et al, 2014). These soluble salts could gradually increase the salinity of shallow groundwater and cause shifts in the salinity of local streams whose fauna, especially insect larvae at the base of the food chain, are particularly sensitive to salinity changes (Kaushal et al, 2005).…”

“…In addition, naturally occurring Ra can co-precipitate with Sr and Ba (Zhang et al, 2014) and accumulation in sediments downstream from wastewater treatment plants (Warner et al, 2013) or along roadsides (Skalak et al, 2014) could impact human health. Elevated Sr is also a tracer for PW contamination (Skalak et al, 2014) and could indicate the presence of compounds in the environment that are associated with HF, such as biocides, which are suspected to possess developmental toxicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, genotoxicity, and/or chronic toxicity (Kahrilas et al, 2015).…”

Unconventional oil and gas chemicals and wastewater-impacted water samples promote adipogenesis via PPARγ-dependent and independent mechanisms in 3T3-L1 cells

“…UOG wells produce estimated wastewater volumes of up to 4 billion m 3 per year (Clark and Veil, 2009; Harkness et al, 2015), which are increasingly injected into disposal wells, treated and discharged from wastewater treatment plants, and/or pumped into open evaporation pits for disposal (Wiseman, 2008; Deutch et al, 2011; Lee et al, 2011; Lester et al, 2015). Recent studies have reported UOG fluid spills rates of between 2 and 20% of active well sites (Patterson, 2017; Maloney et al, 2017), and spills and/or discharges have been demonstrated to impact surface, ground, and drinking water quality near UOG operations (Harkness et al, 2015; DiGiulio et al, 2011; Rozell and Reaven, 2012; Skalak et al, 2014; DiGiulio and Jackson, 2016; Drollette et al, 2015; Osborn et al, 2011; Jackson et al, 2013; Fontenot et al, 2013; Warner et al, 2013; Hladik et al, 2014). …”