480 seconds of Marcellus shale flowback water…

Slide 1 of 73

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

Well 1 Well 2 Well 3 Well 4 Well 5 Blend 1 Blend 2

Tota

l Dis

solv

ed

So

lid

s, m

g/l

Organic solids

Inert solids

Sea Water~35,000 mg/lTypical wastewater ~300 - 500 mg/l

Chris Kulish, BS CE 2010Molly Pritz, BS Geol 2010

800 psi, polyamide brackish water desalination membrane

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

Flowback blend Pre-treated RO permeate

Tota

l Dis

solv

ed

So

lid

s, m

g/l

Organic solids

Inert solids

Through dilution only: 16 gas wells worth of salt per year in the watershed

Chris Kulish, BS CE 2010

April, 2009 Ch. 78 – Well permit fees from$100 to ~$1,800 - $3,000

February, 2011 Ch. 78 – Outdated well casingstandards updated

Ongoing Ch. 93 – Water quality based standards

August, 2010Ch. 95 – Effluent standards forTotal Dissolved Solids (TDS)

Changes to 25 PAC –Environmental Protection

Conventional Phys/Chem Treatment

Vapor Compression

Distillation

Centralized Wastewater Treatment (CWT) Facility

1,000 gal Blended flowback, 80,000 mg/LTDS

0.015 metric tons, 40% cake solids to

landfill

$40 ton

$238

680 gal Distillate, 100 mg/L TDS

320 gal to out-of-state deep well injection, 250,000 mg/L TDS

$91

POTW

River

Recycling, for fracturing

freePublic Water Utility

or Surface Water

$40, all costs included

or$4.50

Permits Lagging

New or expanding CWT

POTW

Pre-8/10 authorized discharges

Landfill Leachate

TDS, bromide (B

r-), ra

dium, etc.

Not well represented in monitoring plans from SRBC and USGS

Possibilities still exist for emerging pollutants in surface waters.

Migration from groundwater

Public Water Supply

Impoundment failures

Faulty casings

Natural Organic Matter (NOM):

2. Non-aromatics

Bromide Ion, Br-

OH

R

NH2

R

River

Activated carbon Pre-adsorption

Coagulation, Flocculation, and Sedimentation

Filtration Disinfection

Brominated Disinfection

Byproducts –

carcinogenic

XX

Cl2

Drinking Water Utilities are not as well equipped to prevent formation of brominated disinfection byproducts (DBPs).

1. Aromatics

Susquehanna River, Winter 2011

DBPs tend to be of the brominated type

DBPs tend to be of the chlorinated type

Kitis et al., 2001

Rebekah Hupp, 2013

‘Degree of aromatic organics’

Kitis et al., 2001

Susquehanna River, Winter 2011

Theoretical Max = 3

If bromide discharges increase, recent samples suggest the Susquehanna may be more likely to form brominated DBPs than chlorinated DBPs.

So, ultimately, where is it all going?