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Pa. allows dumping of tainted waters from gas boom

The natural gas boom gripping parts of the U.S. has a nasty byproduct: wastewater so salty, and so polluted with metals like barium and strontium, that most states require drillers to get rid of the stuff by injecting it down shafts thousands of feet deep.

Not in Pennsylvania, one of the states at the center of the gas rush.

There, the liquid that gushes from gas wells is only partially treated for substances that could be environmentally harmful, then dumped into rivers and streams from which communities get their drinking water.

In the two years since the frenzy of activity began in the vast underground rock formation known as the Marcellus Shale, Pennsylvania has been the only state allowing waterways to serve as the primary disposal place for the huge amounts of wastewater produced by a drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110103/ap_ ... frackwater" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

10-12 years ago I mapped the sewer system for Delaware County (just west of Philadelphia) That is where I was introduced to the term "Out Fall"
The people of PA have been F'ed for some time now.

People who drink water in VA are screwed too. I take at least 2 dumps a day in the water around here.

at least they have guns and bibles to cling to.

Skjellyfetti wrote:at least they have guns and bibles to cling to.

What are they going to do with a gun, shoot the water?

dbackjon wrote:Pa. allows dumping of tainted waters from gas boom

The natural gas boom gripping parts of the U.S. has a nasty byproduct: wastewater so salty, and so polluted with metals like barium and strontium, that most states require drillers to get rid of the stuff by injecting it down shafts thousands of feet deep.

Not in Pennsylvania, one of the states at the center of the gas rush.

There, the liquid that gushes from gas wells is only partially treated for substances that could be environmentally harmful, then dumped into rivers and streams from which communities get their drinking water.

In the two years since the frenzy of activity began in the vast underground rock formation known as the Marcellus Shale, Pennsylvania has been the only state allowing waterways to serve as the primary disposal place for the huge amounts of wastewater produced by a drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110103/ap_ ... frackwater" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I mentioned that a while ago in response to an anti-EPA rant. The EPA may be out of control at times, but at least they aren't poisoning our aquifers, streams and rivers.

The EPA had to take Haliburton to court just to get them to say what chemicals are in the water.

andy7171 wrote:10-12 years ago I mapped the sewer system for Delaware County (just west of Philadelphia) That is where I was introduced to the term "Out Fall"
The people of PA have been F'ed for some time now.

Poop water is easy to clean, water with large concentrations of chemicals and heavy metals not so much.

I also heard that in PA and VA they are putting chemicals in the water that cures queers.

CID1990 wrote:I also heard that in PA and VA they are putting chemicals in the water that cures queers.

You're thinking of Maryland....but no, it hasn't kicked in yet. See the village of Toddles for a primary example.

Speaking of water pollution- Fluoride is coming under increased scrutiny for causing damage to internal organs, and being bad for bone strength.

We have it in our water, but we filter it, so, hopefully we're getting the other metals in the tapwater too.

CID1990 wrote:I also heard that in PA and VA they are putting chemicals in the water that cures queers.

If only they had a chemical that cured stupid.

BlueHen86 wrote:

CID1990 wrote:I also heard that in PA and VA they are putting chemicals in the water that cures queers.

If only they had a chemical that cured stupid.

I assume you are referring to the guy above me and not me!

Actually living in PA, and probably getting water from one of the places where this story reports fracking dumping occuring (I get North Penn water which is pretty much centered around Hatfield so I wouldn't doubt that that would include me, even though we're not really near the Shale), the thing to keep in mind is how much is the local municipality doing and whether this is a problem. We have a tendency as a whole to see that there are "chemicals" in the water and that "chemicals" are bad - I blame it on the poor science education in this country. Heck, this article is a prime example of that - in the first paragraph it talks about barium and strontium being in the water - heck, both are easily removed by even the most basic filtation techniques that a treatment facility would use before it entered the drinking water supply, and I'm not even sure strontium is harmful to people - it basically works like calcium, as long as it's not radioactive, and I don't think they're talking about radioactivity here.

But most treatment facilities worth their salt (pun intended) are more than capable of dealing with contaminants like this in the drinking water. That doesn't mean that we couldn't and might have environmental issues because of these levels and because of flora and fauna that drink the water that's not treated, that's a real concern, but the impact on human drinking water is most likely overstated, especially in an article like this.

Exactly. If the public is on anything other than a private well, the treated water has to meet Federal regs. The water is fine to drink.

CID1990 wrote:I also heard that in PA and VA they are putting chemicals in the water that cures queers.

Really? let me see

*Googles images of women*

Hmm,

*Googles images of men*

They need to try harder.

CID1990 wrote:

BlueHen86 wrote:
If only they had a chemical that cured stupid.

I assume you are referring to the guy above me and not me!

It was a general, smart-assed statement on my part. I didn't mean you.