Pennsylvania needs new regulations to prevent the high concentrations of dissolved solids in discharges from Marcellus shale drilling and other operations that are polluting rivers and streams, according to Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger.

Mr. Hanger said water discharges containing total dissolved solids -- or TDS -- have already impaired and degraded sources of drinking water, including the Monongahela River, and harmed aquatic life.

The proposed regulations governing water discharges into the state's rivers and streams, a revised version of which was released Wednesday evening, would take effect Jan. 1, 2011.

"The treating and disposing of gas drilling brine and fracturing wastewater is a significant challenge for the natural gas industry because of its exceptionally high TDS concentrations," said Mr. Hanger, who addressed the state House Republican Policy Committee on the subject in Indiana yesterday.

The natural gas drilling industry has been critical of the regulatory proposal in the past, saying it would harm development of the Marcellus shale and require expensive treatment of waste water.

High TDS levels in the Monongahela River in 2008 and 2009, caused concerns from U.S. Steel Corp. and other industries that cannot use the contaminated water, which also affected the taste of drinking water provided by public suppliers. Seventeen suppliers draw water from the Monongahela for more than 350,000 people.

Mr. Hanger said 90 percent of the more than 4,000 people who submitted comments on the proposed regulation favored greater protections for the state's waterways.

He said the need for the new regulations was evident last fall in Dunkard Creek, in Greene County along the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border, where high concentrations of TDS attributed to mine discharges created conditions that killed thousands of fish, mussels and other aquatic life in 43 miles of the stream.

While the state's abandoned mines have created a legacy of TDS discharges, additional TDS loads are coming from hundreds of gas drilling operations that use hydraulic fracturing to release natural gas from Marcellus shale, a rock layer located 5,000 to 8,000 feet below the surface under two-thirds of the state.

Each well can use 4 million to 8 million gallons of water that is pumped into the well under very high pressure to fracture the shale and release the gas. About half of that water comes back to the surface with the gas and must be disposed of or recycled for use in other wells.

TDS is a measure of all elements dissolved in water, according to the DEP, and can include chlorides, sulfates, nitrates, sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium. High concentrations of TDS -- found in natural gas drilling wastewater, agricultural runoff and discharges from abandoned mines, industries and sewage treatment plants -- causes toxicity in streams and rivers by increasing salinity.

A final vote by the state Environmental Quality Board on the regulation is scheduled for May 19.

If the EQB approves the regulations, they will be submitted to the state Independent Regulatory Review Commission for final approval.