Assessing Oil and Gas Produced Water Disposal to Western U.S. Surface Water: Implications for Beneficial Use as Disposal Management
Open Access
- Author:
- Mc Devitt, Bonnie
- Graduate Program:
- Environmental Engineering
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 17, 2020
- Committee Members:
- Nathaniel Richard Warner, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Nathaniel Richard Warner, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
William D Burgos, Committee Member
Li Li, Committee Member
Heather Elise Preisendanz, Outside Member
Patrick Joseph Fox, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- isotope geochemistry
salinization
radium geochemistry
contaminant fate and transport
human health
ecological health
drinking water
wastewater treatment
arid
agriculture
beneficial use
NPDES
oil and gas
produced water
sediment
isotope tracer
freshwater mussels
barite
carbonate
phytoremediation - Abstract:
- Oil and gas (O&G) produced waters, wastewater brought to the surface during extraction processes, are often highly saline solutions (10-300 g/L Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)) with increased concentrations of radium, trace and heavy metals, and organic contaminants. Eighty percent of the United States’ produced water (3.3 trillion L/year) is generated in states west of the 98th meridian. In western states produced waters are frequently discharged to surface waters in the O&G fields through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and permitted for beneficial reuse downstream for irrigation, livestock watering, and wildlife propagation after minimal treatment. In arid regions, local NPDES discharges may offer substantial water resources to boost agricultural economies and drinking water supplies. The overall dissertation objective is to assess management of O&G produced water as beneficial use in terms of human and environmental health and to provide quantitatively-based recommendations regarding the current regulations. Chapter 1 provides a background on the issues regarding large volumes of O&G produced water, contaminants of concern for beneficial reuse of produced water, and opportunities for recycling and reusing produced water. Chapter 2 contains a geochemical and hydrological salinization assessment of the produced water discharge impacts to stream health downstream of NPDES facilities. Chapter 3 represents a study that sought to understand radium accumulation and sequestration mechanisms in grab and shallow core sediments near O&G discharges where radium was significantly associated with calcium carbonate minerals. Chapter 4 contains a study to determine if radium is bioaccumulating in vegetation growing near O&G NPDES facilities and created produced water retention ponds downstream. Chapter 5 represents a freshwater mussel tank study in which mussels were dosed with O&G produced water derived from the Marcellus Shale. Mussels were then analyzed for bioaccumulation of O&G produced water contaminants to establish environmental tracers (226Ra/228Ra, 87Sr/86Sr) for future forensic studies related to O&G produced water impacts to local water quality. Chapters 2 and 3 are currently published in Science of the Total Environment and Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts; Chapters 1, 4, and 5 are currently in preparation for publication.