2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
6/06/2017 | 2:00 PM - 2:15 PM | Impacts of oil and gas wastewater disposal on surface water quality, sediments and biota | 305B
Impacts of oil and gas wastewater disposal on surface water quality, sediments and biota
Permitted discharges of high-salinity oil and gas (O&G) wastewater to fresh water streams can result in radionuclide, metal, and organic contamination that could pose risks to aquatic and human health. However, little is known about the potential accumulation of these contaminants in sediments and biota or the risk they could pose to ecosystem services. The sediments and biota may preserve unique chemical signatures of changes in watershed energy development over time. We analyzed sediment cores downstream of two wastewater facilities that historically and currently discharge treated wastewater with TDS> 150,000 mg/L. Major element chemistry (e.g., Cl, Br, Na, Sr, Ba) and isotope ratios (e.g., 87Sr/86Sr and 228Ra/226Ra) from both sediments and porewater identify impacts from unconventional wastewater during a period of time of maximum volume of unconventional wastewater disposal (2009-2011). Radium is present in this interval at activities 3-4 times higher than background with 226Ra/228Ra ratios that likely reflect disposal of unconventional Marcellus Shale flowback and produced water. Shells of freshwater mussels collected downstream of a different treatment facility show a similar pattern of elevated Sr and Ba accumulation during the period of time with maximum wastewater disposal.
- C36 Water Resource Management
- C10 Biogeochemistry
- S01 Water Quantity and Quality Impacts of Unconventional Fossil Fuel Development on Our Freshwater Futures
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Presenters/Authors
Nathaniel Warner
(), Pennsylvania State University, nrw6@psu.edu;
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William Burgos
(), Penn State, wbd3@psu.edu;
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Katherine Van Sice
(), Pennsylvania State University, kjv5@psu.edu;
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Bonnie McDevitt
(), Pennsylvania State University, bum49@psu.edu;
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Thomas Geeza
(), Pennsylvania State University, tjg5157@psu.edu;
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Luis Castillo Meza
(), Pennsylvania State University, lec207@psu.edu;
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Patrick Drohan
(), Pennsylvania State University, pjd7@psu.edu;
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