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Illegal Dumping of Fracking Wastewater May Be Linked to Radioactivity in PA Creek, Experts Say
Illegal Dumping of Fracking Wastewater May Be Linked to Radioactivity in PA Creek, Experts Say
EcoWatch
8/20/2015
Water at the edge of the Clyde Mine discharge in East Bethlehem Township turns the water orangey red where it flows into Ten Mile Creek. Photo credit: Natasha Khan / PublicSource
...“There’s something going on there that’s not right,” Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of the West Virginia Water Research Institute told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazett. “The radiation, together with higher bromide levels than you would expect to see coming out of a deep mine, point to drilling wastewater.”
In April 2014, under pressure from local environmental groups, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had taken samples from the same mine, the Clyde Mine in Washington County, Pennsylvania, as it discharged into 10 Mile Creek, a popular destination for boaters and fishermen.
Those tests showed one sample with radioactive materials (specifically radium 226 and radium 228) totaling 327 pci/l at and a second totaling 301 pci/l—in other words, up to 65 times the radium levels that the EPA considers safe in drinking water.
Some had speculated that the 2014 test results could simply have been flukes or false positives, a claim that seems less likely now that the subsequent round of testing by independent researchers also showed the presence of radioactivity.
The DEP is continuing to investigate, but some in the region say that these efforts are less than satisfactory.
“The DEP has known of elevated levels of radiation in the streams for more than a year, during which time countless people have recreated in (the water) and been exposed to possible harm,” Patrick Grenter, director of Center for Coalfield Justice, told the state press.
The discharges from the Clyde Mine flow into Ten Mile Creek, a tributary of the Monongahela River, which serves as a drinking water supply for much of Pittsburgh and the surrounding region.
http://ecowatch.com/2015/08/20/radioactivity-fracking/
EcoWatch
8/20/2015
Water at the edge of the Clyde Mine discharge in East Bethlehem Township turns the water orangey red where it flows into Ten Mile Creek. Photo credit: Natasha Khan / PublicSource
...“There’s something going on there that’s not right,” Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of the West Virginia Water Research Institute told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazett. “The radiation, together with higher bromide levels than you would expect to see coming out of a deep mine, point to drilling wastewater.”
In April 2014, under pressure from local environmental groups, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had taken samples from the same mine, the Clyde Mine in Washington County, Pennsylvania, as it discharged into 10 Mile Creek, a popular destination for boaters and fishermen.
Those tests showed one sample with radioactive materials (specifically radium 226 and radium 228) totaling 327 pci/l at and a second totaling 301 pci/l—in other words, up to 65 times the radium levels that the EPA considers safe in drinking water.
Some had speculated that the 2014 test results could simply have been flukes or false positives, a claim that seems less likely now that the subsequent round of testing by independent researchers also showed the presence of radioactivity.
The DEP is continuing to investigate, but some in the region say that these efforts are less than satisfactory.
“The DEP has known of elevated levels of radiation in the streams for more than a year, during which time countless people have recreated in (the water) and been exposed to possible harm,” Patrick Grenter, director of Center for Coalfield Justice, told the state press.
The discharges from the Clyde Mine flow into Ten Mile Creek, a tributary of the Monongahela River, which serves as a drinking water supply for much of Pittsburgh and the surrounding region.
http://ecowatch.com/2015/08/20/radioactivity-fracking/
12 replies
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