drilling waste water wells in southern ohio athens county

2023-06-12

Drilling companies of the United States have resorted to a process referred to as “hydraulic fracturing” as a method of getting to natural gas reserves stored in deep-lying rock structures. To achieve this, enormous volumes of water, sediment and different compounds are forced into the underground at high pressure, splitting up the bedrock and allowing access to the gas. The interaction between the water, sediment and chemicals generates what is termed ‘fracking fluid’ or ‘drilling fluid’.

In recent years, the rise of hydraulic fracturing has seen a huge boost in the count of drilling waste water wells across the United States. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that more than 1,300 of these man-made deposits are currently in service – most heavily concentrated in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

With the rise of hydraulic fracturing, worries about polluting the under-layers of earth where water is stored are now more commonplace. In a variety of incidents, fracking liquids have been forced down into aquifers, used as a source of drinking water supply, and also have been discovered in other groundwater due to seepage from disposal wells.

In an effort to assess the impact hydraulic fracturing may have upon our local water supplies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched several investigations to research this topic in greater detail. The findings of these studies are slated to be made public sometime during the year 2016.

Whilst states like Ohio and Pennsylvania have taken their own approach to regulate the drilling of wastewater wells, Ohio’s approach has been particularly impactful. A law was passed back in 2014 that requires companies to not only disclose the chemicals they use when hydraulic fracturing, but also to conduct tests on water quality surrounding the wells prior to and post drilling. Such measures have indeed established a mark on this area of regulation.

Due to the promotion of the practice of fracking, the states within the US have seen an upsurge in the creation of wells for waste water became a reality. Cautioning potential pollution of drinking water sources, many states have consequently formulated regulations for controlling fracking operations.