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| BOB'S BLOGS ON HIS
TAPWATER:
Our Chunky Fracking
Water |
Chlorine to Chloramine
What the switch from chlorine to
chloramine
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April 15, 2012 - During the week of March 19th, 2012, our tapwater south of Pittsburgh changed. That’s right, instead of the Monongahela River source water being disinfected with chlorine, our water supplier switched to chloramine. Why you ask? My short answer would be because of Marcellus shale natural gas drilling and ‘fracking’ (HVSWHF—high volume slick water hydraulic fracturing). Now my long answer: This shale gas extraction process uses huge quantities of water (averaging 4 million gallons per well) and about 20% to 40% of that water flows back out of the well contaminated. One specific contaminant is causing this tapwater switch, since it continues to create high levels of ‘total dissolved solids’ (aka: TDS) in local rivers: Bromides. Something that commonly appears in ocean water.
Did you know Marcellus shale is an ancient ocean? So there is your link: the flowback and produced water from these Marcellus wells can easily be 10-times saltier than ocean water. So how are these bromides getting into Pittsburgh rivers? Over recent years, drillers have been dumping this ‘wastewater’ (labeled ‘Residual Waste’ on tanker trucks) all over Pennsylvania, legally and illegally, onto our land and roadways; into streams, rivers, and abandoned mines; and storing it in huge rectangular pits called impoundments. Unfortunately, it has made its way into the source of our tapwater, the Mon River. It’s not just the saltiness that worries many, it is also the soluble radium, heavy metals and BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylene) that can accompany this wastewater. Oh, and let’s not forget the ‘frack chemicals’ which can easily amount to well over 20,000 gallons of chemicals per Marcellus well.
Back to the chloramine. Treating this ‘salty’ or ‘chunky’ river water has created unsafe trihalomethane (THM) levels at various points over the past few years. One of the trihalomethanes is chloroform. The hazard is considered greater from the gas-off and dermal exposure in your shower than from drinking the water. By switching to chloramine, the water company hopes to reduce these levels, but this change has important ramifications for fish tank owners and those on dialysis, just to name a couple.
One notice of our tapwater switch was mailed out just before Christmas 2011. You will find that notice posted below: Click to enlarge our letter from PAWC about
Beyond existing concerns are new ones about the switch to chloramine. Searching the internet for information on chloramine, you first come across a California website, "Concerned Citizens About Chloramine (CCAC)." The group points out that chloramine lacks the scientific studies that have been done on chlorine, and that it is less effective than chlorine at 'purifying' water. Also that chloramine is a combination of chlorine and ammonia, a respiratory irritant, and it still forms two-thirds the trihalomethanes that chlorine does. The part of CCAC's recommendation I want to focus on is the reduction of organic matter, or as they put it, the pre-cleaning of treated water being the best method for improvement.
An alternative method to "prefiltration" would be not to put all the organic matter into the rivers in the first place, substances such as fracking wastewater. High bromide levels are a clear indication to most experts that Marcellus wastewater is still reaching our Pittsburgh rivers. No doubt. Latest research indicates the levels of bromides increase the most between Masontown and Elizabeth, Pa.
When will this shale industry start "getting it right?" I believe they would still be dumping their shale frack water into our rivers at a frenzied pace if it weren't for the US EPA finally stepping in to put pressure on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). What will they do now if Ohio limits use of their deep injection wells due to associated earthquakes?
Where will the thousands of millions of gallons of toxic fracking wastewater go? Into more open pits like the one below, which was sickening neighbors with its toxic fumes until legal and neighborhood pressure finally got it removed?
Even with reduced levels of frack water being dumped into Pittsburgh rivers, the bromide levels are still high. High enough to force this switch to chloramine. You really have to wonder what things will be like in Pennsylvania's drilling hotspots once this Marcellus drilling really accelerates. The multi-national companies and Big Oil are already here, while other companies arrive daily to set-up shop. Pennsylvania Governor "Tom Corporate" continues to give them the 'green light' everywhere he can. With methane prices dropping in early 2012, there will be an increased focus on the tri-state area around Pittsburgh for its more profitable 'wet gas' and oil. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg with increased water and air pollution from Marcellus shale drilling so far. Think about that the next time you take a safer, colder shower. BRRrrr! Bob |
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LINKS Still no TDS standard in WV New! |
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