Fracking is the process of getting more oil or gas from a well by injecting water into it to fracture the stone. The process produces wastewater heavily contaminated with chemicals from deep underground, including radioactive ones such as radium. The wastewater is then treated to remove most of the contamination.
However, near a recently closed wastewater treatment plant in Pennsylvania, researchers have discovered that even the treated water may have dangerous effects on the environment, Environment+Energy Leader reports.
What's happening?
A team of researchers from Penn State examined freshwater mussels growing in the water near a wastewater treatment plant in western Pennsylvania. The plant treated water from Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale for over 20 years and closed in 2019, E+E Leader reports.
The researchers looked at mussels as a barometer for the overall health of the water in the area. That's because of the life cycles of mussels, which stay in one place for their adult lives and can live 100 years or more depending on the variety. These mussels were found between half a kilometer (about a third of a mile) and five kilometers (3.1 miles) from the treatment plant.
Mussels taken from near the plant contained high levels of radium in their tissues and shells. Even three miles downstream, there was still a notable increase in radium in the mussels compared to the normal level for the species. The types and proportions of contaminants found confirmed that they came from the wastewater treatment plant.
Why does radium in mussels matter?
The radium concentration of these mussels demonstrates that the treated wastewater released into local waterways was still contaminated. That has a direct impact on the health of plants and animals in the water that are exposed to the chemicals, E+E Leader reveals.
It also affects other animals connected to the mussels in the food chain. Waterbirds, raccoons, and otters eat these mussels, absorbing radium that harms them; they, in turn, are prey for larger animals.
Worse, since one predator eats many of its prey during its lifetime, contaminants are concentrated in individuals the higher up the food chain you go.
If any people in the area rely on the river for water or the local plants and animals for food, they would also be exposed.
What's being done about radium in the water?
Research such as this study helps legislators craft new regulations for the disposal of wastewater and for fracking itself. California is banning fracking, and gas and oil companies are under pressure to abandon the practice.
Individuals can help — and lower their energy bills — by supporting green energy sources such as solar.
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