TY - JOUR
T1 - Watershed-Scale Impacts from Surface Water Disposal of Oil and Gas Wastewater in Western Pennsylvania
AU - Burgos, William D.
AU - Castillo-Meza, Luis
AU - Tasker, Travis L.
AU - Geeza, Thomas J.
AU - Drohan, Patrick J.
AU - Liu, Xiaofeng
AU - Landis, Joshua D.
AU - Blotevogel, Jens
AU - McLaughlin, Molly
AU - Borch, Thomas
AU - Warner, Nathaniel R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2017/8/1
Y1 - 2017/8/1
N2 - Combining horizontal drilling with high volume hydraulic fracturing has increased extraction of hydrocarbons from low-permeability oil and gas (O&G) formations across the United States; accompanied by increased wastewater production. Surface water discharges of O&G wastewater by centralized waste treatment (CWT) plants pose risks to aquatic and human health. We evaluated the impact of surface water disposal of O&G wastewater from CWT plants upstream of the Conemaugh River Lake (dam controlled reservoir) in western Pennsylvania. Regulatory compliance data were collected to calculate annual contaminant loads (Ba, Cl, total dissolved solids (TDS)) to document historical industrial activity. In this study, two CWT plants 10 and 19 km upstream of a reservoir left geochemical signatures in sediments and porewaters corresponding to peak industrial activity that occurred 5 to 10 years earlier. Sediment cores were sectioned for the collection of paired samples of sediment and porewater, and analyzed for analytes to identify unconventional O&G wastewater disposal. Sediment layers corresponding to the years of maximum O&G wastewater disposal contained higher concentrations of salts, alkaline earth metals, and organic chemicals. Isotopic ratios of 226Ra/228Ra and 87Sr/86Sr identified that peak concentrations of Ra and Sr were likely sourced from wastewaters that originated from the Marcellus Shale formation.
AB - Combining horizontal drilling with high volume hydraulic fracturing has increased extraction of hydrocarbons from low-permeability oil and gas (O&G) formations across the United States; accompanied by increased wastewater production. Surface water discharges of O&G wastewater by centralized waste treatment (CWT) plants pose risks to aquatic and human health. We evaluated the impact of surface water disposal of O&G wastewater from CWT plants upstream of the Conemaugh River Lake (dam controlled reservoir) in western Pennsylvania. Regulatory compliance data were collected to calculate annual contaminant loads (Ba, Cl, total dissolved solids (TDS)) to document historical industrial activity. In this study, two CWT plants 10 and 19 km upstream of a reservoir left geochemical signatures in sediments and porewaters corresponding to peak industrial activity that occurred 5 to 10 years earlier. Sediment cores were sectioned for the collection of paired samples of sediment and porewater, and analyzed for analytes to identify unconventional O&G wastewater disposal. Sediment layers corresponding to the years of maximum O&G wastewater disposal contained higher concentrations of salts, alkaline earth metals, and organic chemicals. Isotopic ratios of 226Ra/228Ra and 87Sr/86Sr identified that peak concentrations of Ra and Sr were likely sourced from wastewaters that originated from the Marcellus Shale formation.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85026636842&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acs.est.7b01696
DO - 10.1021/acs.est.7b01696
M3 - Artículo en revista científica indexada
C2 - 28699344
AN - SCOPUS:85026636842
SN - 0013-936X
VL - 51
SP - 8851
EP - 8860
JO - Environmental Science and Technology
JF - Environmental Science and Technology
IS - 15
ER -
