Future Fanatic
Nirvana
Oh wait a minute... my bad... NOTHING startling...
All the horrible chemicals didn't even affect the micro organisms that digest the human wastes...
Watertown Daily Times | City says fluid had nothing startling
City says fluid had nothing startling
WELL FLOWBACK: Plant performance not affected by waste
By ROBERT BRAUCHLE
TIMES STAFF WRITER
MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2010
ARTICLE OPTIONS
The 35,000 gallons of flowback fluid treated in January at the Watertown sewage treatment plant had little or negligible effects on the plant and the Black River, according to documents about the testing process made available by the city Friday.
"There is nothing in that fluid that this plant was not designed to treat," plant Supervisor Michael J. Sligar said.
The city received permission from the state Department of Environmental Conservation in late December to accept the flowback fluid from the Ross No. 1 well drilled in the town of Maryland. The vertical well, operated by Gastem Inc., Quebec, uses the controversial hydro-fracking process to extract natural gas from the Utica Shale rock formation.
While vertical wells produce far less wastewater than horizontal wells also using the hydro-fracking process, drillers are hampered by the limited options to treat the fluid. Companies can either ship it to municipally owned treatment plants, store it underground or find a way to reuse it.
"The sampling results presented in this report show that the loading indicated was not significant as compared with routine daily loadings at the sewage treatment plant and that the plant's performances were not impacted in any manner by them," Mr. Sligar wrote in a memo to the City Council.
"Further, the relevant conclusion of the toxicity testing is that nomortalities or effects were noted in any ofthe treatments testsfor either the vertebrate species or the invertebrate species."
Environmental protection groups have said that large quantities of flowback fluid introduced in sewage treatment plants can kill the organisms used to digest waste. The groups also have stated that municipal treatment plants are not equipped to treat the fluid, which has a high salt content.
"The question never was what is in the fluid. We knew that before we accepted it," Mr. Sligar said. "The question was how much is in it?"
Mr. Sligar said DEC asked him to monitor whether the chlorides and toluene, which is commercially used as a solvent, in the fluid affected the plant's digestion.
"There was such a small amount of this stuff that it didn't even realize it was there," Mr. Sligar said, referring to the flowback fluid.
The plant treats an average of 12 million gallons of sewage each day and is rated to treat 16 million gallons. Any criticism that the plant is not equipped to treat salts is disingenuous, Mr. Sligar said, because the plant uses about 700 pounds of chlorides each day to treat phosphorus found in household sewage.
The plant typically treats about 25,000 pounds of chlorides daily, according to information provided to the Times.
The tankers hauling the fluid pumped 2,294 pounds of chlorides into the system over a two-day period, meaning the flowback fluid increased the amount of chlorides in the plant by 4.8 percent.
The city also tested for the nuclear content of the fluid, which Mr. Sligar said was below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's threshold for drinking water.
"It's incumbent on these plant operators to not allow this fluid to overwhelm their processes," Mr. Sligar said. "I am aware of the threshold that this plant can deal with and what it's designed to do."
He said he has talked with Gastem's president, Orville R. Cole, to treat any further fluid produced at the Otsego County site.
"They're permitted for five wells there," Mr. Sligar said. "So, yeah, I think it's a foregone conclusion."
Any additional fluid treated at the Watertown plant must be approved by DEC.
All the horrible chemicals didn't even affect the micro organisms that digest the human wastes...
Watertown Daily Times | City says fluid had nothing startling
City says fluid had nothing startling
WELL FLOWBACK: Plant performance not affected by waste
By ROBERT BRAUCHLE
TIMES STAFF WRITER
MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2010
ARTICLE OPTIONS
The 35,000 gallons of flowback fluid treated in January at the Watertown sewage treatment plant had little or negligible effects on the plant and the Black River, according to documents about the testing process made available by the city Friday.
"There is nothing in that fluid that this plant was not designed to treat," plant Supervisor Michael J. Sligar said.
The city received permission from the state Department of Environmental Conservation in late December to accept the flowback fluid from the Ross No. 1 well drilled in the town of Maryland. The vertical well, operated by Gastem Inc., Quebec, uses the controversial hydro-fracking process to extract natural gas from the Utica Shale rock formation.
While vertical wells produce far less wastewater than horizontal wells also using the hydro-fracking process, drillers are hampered by the limited options to treat the fluid. Companies can either ship it to municipally owned treatment plants, store it underground or find a way to reuse it.
"The sampling results presented in this report show that the loading indicated was not significant as compared with routine daily loadings at the sewage treatment plant and that the plant's performances were not impacted in any manner by them," Mr. Sligar wrote in a memo to the City Council.
"Further, the relevant conclusion of the toxicity testing is that nomortalities or effects were noted in any ofthe treatments testsfor either the vertebrate species or the invertebrate species."
Environmental protection groups have said that large quantities of flowback fluid introduced in sewage treatment plants can kill the organisms used to digest waste. The groups also have stated that municipal treatment plants are not equipped to treat the fluid, which has a high salt content.
"The question never was what is in the fluid. We knew that before we accepted it," Mr. Sligar said. "The question was how much is in it?"
Mr. Sligar said DEC asked him to monitor whether the chlorides and toluene, which is commercially used as a solvent, in the fluid affected the plant's digestion.
"There was such a small amount of this stuff that it didn't even realize it was there," Mr. Sligar said, referring to the flowback fluid.
The plant treats an average of 12 million gallons of sewage each day and is rated to treat 16 million gallons. Any criticism that the plant is not equipped to treat salts is disingenuous, Mr. Sligar said, because the plant uses about 700 pounds of chlorides each day to treat phosphorus found in household sewage.
The plant typically treats about 25,000 pounds of chlorides daily, according to information provided to the Times.
The tankers hauling the fluid pumped 2,294 pounds of chlorides into the system over a two-day period, meaning the flowback fluid increased the amount of chlorides in the plant by 4.8 percent.
The city also tested for the nuclear content of the fluid, which Mr. Sligar said was below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's threshold for drinking water.
"It's incumbent on these plant operators to not allow this fluid to overwhelm their processes," Mr. Sligar said. "I am aware of the threshold that this plant can deal with and what it's designed to do."
He said he has talked with Gastem's president, Orville R. Cole, to treat any further fluid produced at the Otsego County site.
"They're permitted for five wells there," Mr. Sligar said. "So, yeah, I think it's a foregone conclusion."
Any additional fluid treated at the Watertown plant must be approved by DEC.
