"Study: High Levels of Pollutants From Drilling Waste Found in Pa. Rivers"

"New scientific sampling and analysis has found high concentrations of ammonium and iodide, two potentially hazardous pollutants, in oil and gas well drilling wastewater discharged into streams and rivers in Pennsylvania and other states.

The peer-reviewed study, which will be published this week in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, is the first to identify those contaminants as widespread in the wastewater discharges from spills and treatment plants, including three facilities in the Allegheny River watershed.

The findings raise new concerns about the environmental and health impacts of drilling wastewater discharges from shale and non-shale oil and gas drilling operations in a variety of geological formations in the Appalachian Basin, according to Avner Vengosh, a professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. He is one of six researchers from Duke, Stanford and Dartmouth universities who worked on the study."

Don Hopey reports for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette January 14, 2015.

SEE ALSO:

"New -- And Worrisome -- Contaminants Emerge From Oil And Gas Wells" (Daily Climate)