Officials Hope Brine Pilot Project Helps Other Cities
The State Journal
28 May 2009
By Pam Kasey
A pilot project that allows a Clarksburg wastewater treatment plant to
accept gas well drilling brine could lead to other municipal systems
making money from the Marcellus gas boom.
After months of study, the state Department of Environmental Protection
soon may recommend permit modifications for a Clarksburg wastewater
treatment plant that is accepting gas well drilling brine.
It's a pilot project that Plant Manager Bill Goodwin hopes will help
other municipal systems make money from the Marcellus gas boom.
"It keeps everybody's rates down," Goodwin said.
"We have a $1.5 million budget. This is generating between $200,000 and
$400,000," he said. "This may open the door for other municipalities to
do the same in a responsible manner."
The project also may provide one avenue for disposal of the large
volumes of brine that are expected as the natural gas industry ramps up
production from the Marcellus shale formation.
During a low rainfall period last fall, the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection directed nine municipal treatment plants on
the Monongahela River to cut back on gas well drilling brine.
The river was exceeding the state's standard of 500 milligrams/liter of
total dissolved solids, or TDS: salts and other compounds related to
the production of coal, coalbed methane and natural gas.
Municipal systems remove many pollutants, but can only dilute dissolved
solids. When high volumes of incompletely treated brine entered the
rain-starved river, TDS shot up to 900 mg/L and higher, impairing the
function of industrial equipment and affecting the odor and taste of
drinking water.
The problem was alleviated when rainfall restored normal flows to the
river.
Upriver in West Virginia, only the Clarksburg treatment plant accepts
gas well drilling brine at this time.
The Clarksburg plant began taking brine on a trial basis in the fall,
monitoring the influent and effluent in ongoing consultation with the
DEP.
At about 42,000 gallons per day, the brine coming from Energy
Contractors of Bridgeport is less than 1 percent of the plant's
influent, according to Goodwin.
Energy Contractors mixes the brine down to about 18,500 parts per
million of chlorides, a component of TDS, before the water enters the
plant. That is similar to sea water, but not as high as much of the
brine that comes from gas wells.
These levels -- the volume of brine the plant accepts and the
concentration of chlorides in that brine -- are calculated to protect
the plant from damaging effects of high concentrations of dissolved
solids, Goodwin explained.
The levels also are calculated to allow for adequate dilution of
dissolved solids in the plant's effluent.
So far, Goodwin said, the trial is going well.
"Our dissolved solids is averaging about 623" mg/L at the end of the
discharge pipe, Goodwin said. "From my understanding from the state, we
get a three-to-one dilution ratio in this receiving stream -- that
means we're at about 200 in the river."
West Virginia has a water quality standard for chlorides but not for
TDS. As an upstream state, however, West Virginia does have a
responsibility to protect water quality so that it meets downstream
standards.
Clarksburg City Councilman James Hunt suggested after a May 7 council
meeting that the city might want to establish its own TDS standard.
In his role as city manager, Martin Howe expects that it is possible
for a city to set its own water quality standards, although he said
that would have to be confirmed with the city attorney.
But in his role as chairman of the Clarksburg Sanitary Board, he feels
that the pilot project is protecting water quality and offering a
necessary service to the gas industry while at the same time providing
valuable information to the DEP.
"Since we are working very closely with the DEP and providing them with
the appropriate reports, the DEP will have the correct information to
... make recommendations to the state Legislature to make regulations
going forward," he said.
Goodwin expects to hear soon from DEP about a modified permit.