cover image: Potential Impact to Surface Water and Sediment from the Transport of Produced Water by Barge Along the Ohio

20.500.12592/1gsxqq

Potential Impact to Surface Water and Sediment from the Transport of Produced Water by Barge Along the Ohio

27 Aug 2021

3 Background A network of river tank terminal and barge companies is in the process of securing permits to transport produced water (i.e., oil and gas wastewater) generated from unconventional oil and gas extraction in the Appalachian Basin on barges down the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers. [...] Summary of Chemical Composition of Produced Water in the Appalachian Basin The disclosure of chemicals used in routine oil and gas development operations, hydraulic fracturing, and acidizing treatments is of considerable value in identifying compounds that could be present in produced water. [...] Of the concentration ranges of BTEX compounds measured in produced water, the majority of measured benzene concentrations and the high end of measured toluene concentrations exceed the associated USEPA primary MCLs (Figure 6). [...] Due to overlapping ranges in 228Ra/226Ra ratios of Ra-rich waters in the Appalachian Basin, inaccuracies in either 226Ra and 228Ra measurement reduce the effectiveness of source determination in the event of a spill. [...] Examination of strontium isotopic ratios (87Sr/86Sr) in surface water samples corroborated evidence of impact to surface water in addition to observation of elevated 226Ra in sediment (2.8 pCi/g downstream compared to 0.71 pCi/g upstream) and radium-226/uranium-238 (226Ra/238U) activity ratios in sediment in excess of unity (2.6) indicating lack of secular equilibrium (equivalent activities of 226.

Authors

Rob Rossi

Pages
60
Published in
United States of America