Wastewater Woes
Will DEP’s new Permitting Strategy protect PA waters and health?
(Narrowsburg, NY) The River Reporter
23 April 2009
By Sandy Long
UPPER DELAWARE REGION — In response to the increased threat to
Pennsylvania’s waterways from polluted wastewater generated during
natural gas drilling, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) has developed new discharge standards that will take
effect by January 2011. Meanwhile, an interim “Permitting Strategy” is
being implemented in a “rethinking of historic practices,” according to
the DEP.
The news was announced by acting secretary John Hanger at a public
meeting of the Marcellus Shale Wastewater Technology Partnership,
comprised of DEP and gas industry professionals.
In its new “Permitting Strategy for High Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)
Wastewater Discharges,” the DEP notes, “There are many pollutants of
concern in the wastewater associated with hydraulic fracturing.” The
industrial wastewater is high in total dissolved solids, as well as
sulfates and chlorides.
TDS cause toxicity through increased salinity, which affects the health
of aquatic organisms. The document notes that water quality analyses of
Pennsylvania’s major watersheds show that many of the state’s rivers
and streams have a very limited ability to assimilate additional TDS,
sulfates and chlorides due to elevated levels from historic practices.
An example from fall 2008 in the Monongahela River basin is cited,
where water quality standards for TDS were exceeded at 17 potable water
intakes from West Virginia to Pittsburgh, when the river reached
seasonal lows and concentrations of TDS and sulfates increased to
historic highs.
“High total dissolved solids in industrial wastewater have been a
problem in the Monongahela River and are an impending problem on a
statewide level,” noted Hangar. “We are establishing base standards for
this water so dischargers move toward actually treating TDS in
industrial wastewater rather than simply depending on dilution to
protect water quality.”
Can treated wastewaters still be discharged into a drought-stricken
stream?
According to DEP spokesman Tom Rathbun, during a drought emergency, the
governor is granted emergency powers to regulate water use as
necessary. When issuing National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) permits, the wastewater discharge is modeled using a
statistically derived stream flow that simulates the lowest average
seven-day flow over a 10-year period, or what could be thought of as a
drought-like condition. All water quality parameters must then be met
in-stream at this drought-like condition.
The new standards are intended to protect Pennsylvania’s waters,
including drinking water, and thereby, human health. But will they be
stringent enough?
What’s in it?
A closer look at the Permitting Strategy indicates the following:
• Although the DEP acknowledges that water with TDS and chloride levels
greater than the standards may have the potential to cause health
effects, it notes, “no reliable data exist currently that support this
and no health-based standard will be proposed at this time.”
• The new strategy is aimed at prohibiting new sources of high-TDS
wastewaters from the state’s waters and is expected to include “an
allocation strategy to address situations in which multiple discharges
cause or contribute to downstream water quality standards violations.”
• The interim strategy in place between April 1, 2009 and January 1,
2011 will be to “maximize the use of available assimilative capacity of
receiving streams where that is feasible.”
• DEP proposes to develop revisions to current regulations to add
effluent standards for TDS, sulfates, chlorides, Total Barium and Total
Strontium—all pollutants in Marcellus wastewaters.
• Publicly owned treatment works that accept such wastewater would be
required to have an EPA-approved pretreatment program.
• Other disposal pathways involving partial removal of TDS to enable
reuse of the wastewater will be considered.
Traditional methods of treatment have involved processing at
centralized waste treatment facilities and publicly-owned treatment
works (POTW). However, the DEP notes that “nearly all of the existing
and proposed facilities do not treat the main pollutants of
concern—these are passed through the treatment system with little or no
reduction in pollutant loading—as TDS and chlorides are not removed
using current treatment methods.” The Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) recommends that POTWs not accept this type of wastewater due to
the potential for “pass through.”
Another possibility mentioned in the document is the production of a
“viable end product,” such as road salt, from the recovered solids.
Rathbun explained that the process for treating wastewater would take
several steps. “In the preliminary steps, metals and other contaminants
from the frac water could be removed. This would involve treatment
steps like pH adjustment, allowing the water to stand for a period of
time to allow settling, adding polymers or other additives to enhance
settling, aeration to remove volatile organics and ammonia, and other
procedures.
“This sludge would then be disposed of at the appropriate residual
waste facility depending on its chemical make-up. The cleaner water
could then be evaporated, with a salt cake remaining that could be used
for other purposes, both for ice removal on roads and other industrial
processes. Before the salt remaining after water treatment could be
used for anything, the operator would need to obtain a beneficial use
permit from the Bureau of Waste Management. That permit will have
conditions in it to ensure that the salt is safe to use for the
proposed activity.”
DEP will develop a proposed rulemaking to amend the water quality
regulations this summer with an opportunity for public comment. To view
the new Permitting Srategy, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us, choose
keyword: Wastewater, then select the ‘Marcellus Shale Wastewater
Partnership’ link.