U.S. EPA Study Into Wastewater From Oil And Gas Operations Gathers Steam

The oil industry has a wastewater problem. As shale drilling has grown, so has the issue of how to dispose of the huge amounts of water required of the process. After years of injecting brackish wastewater back into wells thousands of feet below the surface, scientists have become concerned that pressure in disposal wells is building to unsustainable levels from overuse.

Back in May, former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that the agency would embark on a new study to evaluate how EPA, states and stakeholders should regulate and manage wastewater from the oil and gas industry. Now lobbyists are working hard to convince EPA officials that properly-treated wastewater could provide a valuable resource for drought-susceptible areas in the southern and western United States, with potential uses for agriculture, industry and drinking water. 

As reported in the Houston Chronicle, Lee Forsgreen, deputy assistant administrator at EPA’s Office of Water, acknowledged that the EPA is “very much in a listening mode now,” consulting with experts and conducting public meetings around the country, toward making a decision next summer.

The technology for treating produced water onsite has historically been cost prohibitive, making the transportation and disposal via deep-well drilling the main disposal method. But should regulations change, many feel that technology costs will and can come down. The Chronicle provides El Paso as an example, where the city’s desalinization plant that produces 27.5 million gallons of fresh water daily but treating brackish water with a salt content similar to produced water from oilfield operations.

Many remain skeptical though. Nichole Saunders, an attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund, believes that the science and data necessary to inform the EPA’s decision is still not in place. In 2016, the EPA banned municipal sewage plants from accepting wastewater associated with hydraulic fracturing after it was discovered that water was sent to plants not equipped to properly clean it.

But many believe that onsite treatment technologies will advance exponentially should new regulations permit disposal into rivers, streams and/or municipal wastewater treatment facilities.