Pennsylvania Faces A Tainted Wastewater Onslaught Due To Natural Gas Drilling

ProPublica:

Workers at a steel mill and a power plant were the first to notice something strange about the Monongahela River last summer. The water that U.S. Steel and Allegheny Energy used to power their plants contained so much salty sediment that it was corroding their machinery [1]. Nearby residents saw something odd, too. Dishwashers were malfunctioning, and plates were coming out with spots that couldn't easily be rinsed off.

Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection soon identified the likely cause [2] and came up with a quick fix. The Monongahela, a drinking water source for 350,000 people, had apparently been contaminated by chemically tainted wastewater from the state's growing natural gas industry. So the DEP reduced the amount of drilling wastewater that was being discharged into the river and unlocked dams upstream to dilute the contamination.

Read the whole story: ProPublica

Comments

[mrybar]

11:54 AM on 01/22/2010

At this stage of the game, it's become the responsibi­lity of the homeowner to take responsibi­lity for their own water quality. The municipali­ties may try do their best but have limited funds just like most other government agencies. And if you have well water, there is no one monitoring your water quality at all! It's best to have your well water tested once per year, at a minimum. Test for bacteria and nitrites. I have a whole house water filter to protect my own family. I am at ease knowing my children are getting high quality from any tap in our home. I bought one from www.purite­am.com and its been working great for years. Didn't have to spend a lot of money to help me sleep better at night!!

[research]

11:59 AM on 10/07/2009

This is T Boone Pickens great new Natural gas supply:

We being Fracked.

[jeanruss]

03:49 PM on 10/06/2009

I bought a point-of-e­ntry water filter from www.equino­xproducts.­com and I LOVE my water. The difference in the taste as weel as many other benefits has really improved my health. I researched many options for a book I have written and their system was the best. It costs around $1500.00 including the fluoride removal and lasts for 7 years. It doesn't waste any water like the R/O systems do. The staff of the company is very helpful. They also sell small systems for under the sink and shower for alot less, but I had already used this approach and was ready to clean up all of my water.

[jsarets]

02:49 AM on 10/06/2009

Only in our surreal financial system could it be less expensive to produce natural gas from fossil deposits than to produce methane and/or ethanol from landfills or municipal and agricultur­al waste.

We have all the biomass we could ever want right here on the surface where it's easy to collect. Why in the world are we drilling hundreds of feet into the earth to extract prehistori­c biomass that has high concentrat­ions of heavy metals, sulfur compounds, benzene compounds and other natural toxins?

[Yeah-Me]

09:03 PM on 10/05/2009

Man... The Great Destroyer.

[StJames]

06:45 PM on 10/05/2009

So the Gas industry poisons the water supply of 350,000 people but nothing is done until the machinery starts to rust. Nice going; people are not as important as machinery.

[hellboundtrain]

06:40 PM on 10/05/2009

Fracking, with the nearly countless highly poisonous chemicals, may have destroyed the clean drinking water for nearly the entire nation. You don't poison your people!

Who is responsibl­e here?

[research]

06:16 PM on 10/05/2009

Fracking Sucks!