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

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science & technology 2013-10, Vol.47 (20), p.11849-11857
Main Authors: Warner, Nathaniel R, Christie, Cidney A, Jackson, Robert B, Vengosh, Avner
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Continental surface waters
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Effluents
Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics
Exact sciences and technology
Freshwater
Gases - chemistry
Geography
Geologic Sediments - chemistry
Industrial wastewaters
Isotopes
Natural water pollution
Pennsylvania
Pollution
Pollution, environment geology
Risk assessment
Rivers - chemistry
Sediments
Sewage disposal
Surface Properties
Waste disposal
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Waste Water - chemistry
Wastewaters
Water Quality
Water treatment
Water treatment and pollution
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Summary: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, 226Ra 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.
ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/es402165b