DEP Secretary: Regulations That Protect Aquatic Life and Drinking
Water From Natural Gas Wastewater Are Now in Effect and
Enforceable
Regulations Drive Industry Investment in Technologies that Treat
Wastewater
PA-DEP Release
25 August 2010
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Dept. of Environmental Protection
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg PA., 17120
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Helen Humphreys, Department of Environmental Protection,
717-787-1323
HARRISBURG -- New wastewater treatment standards for total dissolved
solids, which will apply to gas well drilling wastewater, and that
protect aquatic life and drinking water supplies are now in effect and
enforceable, Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger announced
today.
The combination of this Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Rule and the new
rule requiring 150-foot buffers for Pennsylvania’s approximately 20,000
miles of high-quality streams give waters in the state the strongest
legal protection in history.
The new permitted limit for discharges of wastewater from gas drilling
is 500 milligrams per liter of total dissolved solids and 250 mg/l for
chlorides. All new and expanding facilities which treat gas well
wastewater must now meet these discharge limits.
“DEP’s proposal of these new limits has already driven industry
investment in new technologies to treat this wastewater which is high
in TDS,” Hanger said. “We are proving that if we hold the environmental
bar high, the industry can and will rise to meet Pennsylvania’s
expectations.”
Hanger added that since DEP proposed these new rules, some businesses
have moved to treat gas well wastewater for recycling by the natural
gas industry rather than discharging it to Pennsylvania waterways.
Using a watershed-based approach, the new regulations will also govern
other discharges of TDS. This approach will ensure that the level of
TDS in streams in the state will not reach levels that will negatively
impact downstream users such as drinking water suppliers.
Pennsylvania’s streams receive total dissolved solids from a variety of
wastewater sources. Primary sources of these pollutants are stormwater
runoff and discharges from coal mines and other industrial activities.
Wastewater from certain industrial operations is high in chlorides
(salt) and sulfates which affect the taste and odor of drinking water
and, in high concentrations, can damage or destroy aquatic life.
Drinking water treatment facilities are not equipped to treat these
contaminants and rely on normally low levels of chlorides and sulfates
in surface waters used for drinking water supplies.
The new rules underwent the regulatory process that included public
input; review by the Environmental Quality Board; regulatory review by
the Independent Regulatory Review Commission; legislative review
through the House and Senate Standing Energy and Environmental
Resources Committees; and finally, review by the state Attorney General
for form and legality. The final rules became effective and enforceable
upon publication in the Aug. 21 issue of the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
The full text of the rule can be found at http://www.Pabulletin.com - page
4835.
For more information, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us or call
412-442-4000.