Elevated Radioactive Contaminants Found At Shale Gas Wastewater Discharge Site
Wednesday, October 2, 2013 - 15:10
in Earth & Climate
Industry has made efforts to reuse or to transport shale gas wastewater to deep injection wells, but wastewater is still discharged into the environment, after being treated, in some states. In western Pennsylvania, water that comes from Marcellus shale is naturally high in salinity and radioactivity but a new Duke study examined the quality of shale gas wastewater resulting from hydraulic fracturing and found that the stream water above and below the Josephine Brine Treatment Facility disposal site that is derived from the Marcellus shale gas flowback water showed elevated levels of radioactivity, salts and metals. High concentrations of some salts and metals were also observed in the stream water. read more