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Radioactive Brine Threatens Ohio Water Supply
14 Jul
Summary
- Radioactive brine waste from injection wells may contaminate Marietta's aquifer.
- Leaking wells have already impacted oil and gas production in Washington County.
- Remediation could cost tens to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Residents and experts in Marietta, Ohio, are expressing significant concern over the potential environmental and financial impacts of radioactive brine waste migrating from injection wells. This waste, originating from oil and gas fracturing operations, poses a threat to Marietta's aquifer.
In 2019, brine waste was found to have traveled underground from the Redbird #4 injection well to active oil and gas wells approximately five miles away. This incident has increased pressure on those wells and heightened anxieties about future contamination of Marietta's water supply.
Experts estimate that remediation efforts to intercept and neutralize the radioactive fluids could be extraordinarily expensive, potentially ranging from tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. The migration is attributed to fractures in deep geological formations, allowing fluids to move upwards due to high pressure.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has taken action, suspending operations at six of seven identified injection wells where fluids have migrated underground since 2019. New regulations for Class II injection wells were implemented in 2022, and the state is exploring third-party studies for private water wells near impacted areas.
