Pa. DEP Sets Total Dissolved Solids Standard for Gas Well Drilling
Brine
End-of-pipe standard of 500 milligrams per liter applies only to
"new and expanding mass loadings" of total dissolved solids.
The State Journal
26 August 2010
By Pam Kasey
New wastewater treatment standards for gas well drilling brine took
effect in Pennsylvania Aug. 21, according to the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection.
The rule sets an effluent standard of 500 milligrams per liter for
total dissolved solids, or TDS, at the end of the discharge pipe — as
opposed to in-stream — and 250 mg/L for chlorides, a component of TDS.
Discharges also will be held to standards of 10 mg/L for strontium and
barium.
All standards are monthly averages.
The rule applies to all new and expanding facilities that treat gas
well drilling wastewater and discharge more than 5,000 pounds of TDS as
an annual average daily load.
In addition, gas well operators are required to submit wastewater
source reduction strategies annually, specifying quantities of
wastewater generated, recycled and re-used.
Excluded from the rule are gas well drilling wastewater discharges
permitted before Aug. 21.
In addition, discharges from other industries will be held to a
standard of 2,000 mg/L TDS as a monthly average.
The rationale, according to the state’s online “Pennsylvania Bulletin,”
is that the gas industry’s wastewater stream has higher TDS levels and
higher volumes and is anticipated to grow more than other industries’
wastewater.
West Virginia currently has no water quality standard for TDS.
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has proposed a
standard of 500 mg/L for consideration in the 2011 regular legislative
session.
The proposal is an in-stream rather than an end-of-pipe standard,
meaning that it allows for the possibility of dilution of wastewater.
It is proposed to protect public water supply, a protection that,
except in the case of manganese, the department enforces everywhere on
a stream.