Water insecurity: Radioactive shale gas wastewater found in U.S. creek

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    Radioactive shale gas wastewater found in U.S. creek

                     

High levels of radioactivity, salts and metals have been found in river water and sediments at a shale gas waste disposal site in the northeastern U.S. state of Pennsylvania, U.S. researchers said Wednesday.

Researchers at Duke University examined the quality of shale gas wastewater discharged from Josephine Brine Treatment Facility into Blacklick Creek, as well as the stream water above and below the disposal site in western Pennsylvania.

They reported in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology that radium levels were about 200 times greater in sediment samples collected from the disposal site than in those collected just upstream of the plant.

“The radioactivity levels we found in sediments near the outflow are above management regulations in the U.S. and would only be accepted at a licensed radioactive disposal facility,” Robert Jackson, professor of environmental science at Duke, said in a statement.

“Years of disposal of oil and gas wastewater with high radioactivity has created potential environmental risks for thousands of years to come,” said Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality from Duke.

High concentrations of some salts, including bromide, were also observed in the stream water, since the treatment is not able to remove them.

“When the high-bromide effluents are discharged to the stream, it increases the concentrations of bromide above the original background levels,” Vengosh said. “This is significant because bromide increases the risks for formation of highly toxic disinfection byproducts in drinking water treatment facilities that are located downstream.”

The study also found that the facility is effective in removing metals such as barium from the water but concentrates sulfates, chlorides and bromides. “In fact this single facility contributes four-fifths of the total downstream chloride flow at this point,” Jackson said.

Industry has made efforts to reuse or to transport shale gas wastewater to deep injection wells, but wastewater is still discharged to the environment in some U.S. states, the researchers said.

“It is clear that this practice of releasing wastewater without adequate treatment should be stopped in order to protect freshwater resources in areas of oil and gas development,” Vengosh added.

  Source: Xinhua

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