Evidence that oil and gas wastewater may be moving through underground formations near Marietta has intensified demands for a moratorium on new injection wells surrounding the city’s aquifer.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Concerns over the underground disposal of oil and gas wastewater are escalating in southeastern Ohio after state regulators concluded that elevated pressure and fluids found in nearby production wells were linked to injection activity, prompting the shutdown of four disposal wells in Washington County.
The action has reinforced warnings from Marietta officials, water authorities and local residents who fear that contaminated brine from hydraulic fracturing operations could eventually reach the city’s drinking water supply. Although routine testing has not detected contamination in local tap water, officials argue that the potential consequences would be irreversible if radioactive or chemical pollutants entered the municipal aquifer.
Marietta, a historic city along the Ohio River, has become a major destination for wastewater generated by fracking operations in Ohio and neighboring states. Tanker trucks deliver millions of gallons of highly saline wastewater to injection sites, where it is pumped thousands of feet below the surface for long-term disposal, according to The New York Times.
State regulators and representatives of the oil and gas industry maintain that properly constructed and monitored injection wells can safely isolate the material. Local officials, however, say recent signs of wastewater appearing in nearby oil and gas wells raise serious questions about whether the underground formations are containing the fluids as intended.
“It would destroy the city,” Marietta City Council President Susan Vessels said. “Once the damage is done, it cannot be undone.”
Ohio has issued permits for more than 240 injection wells, substantially more than Pennsylvania or West Virginia. The state receives large quantities of wastewater from Pennsylvania, the nation’s second-largest natural gas producer, because Ohio’s disposal permitting system is considered less restrictive.
State figures show that approximately 1.4 billion gallons of oil and gas wastewater are injected underground in Ohio each year. An estimated one-third to one-half of that volume originates outside the state. In Washington County, where Marietta is located, nearly 60% of the wastewater injected during the past two years came from other states.
The waste can contain heavy metals, benzene, naturally occurring radioactive substances and chemicals used during drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Concerns are particularly acute around four injection wells located within approximately two miles of Marietta’s drinking water aquifer, while additional disposal sites have also been proposed.
Pennsylvania waste records compiled by FracTracker indicate that wastewater delivered to those wells contained median concentrations of radium-226 ranging from hundreds to more than 1,800 times the Environmental Protection Agency’s drinking water standard. Radium-226 is a naturally occurring radioactive material that can be present in brine brought to the surface during oil and gas production.
“If we get anything nuclear in our water, that’s it,” Vessels said. “We’re done.”
The Ohio Oil and Gas Association has maintained that regulated injection wells do not pose a significant danger to drinking water. Critics counter that the state’s extensive history of drilling has left thousands of undocumented and abandoned oil and gas wells underground, potentially creating pathways through which injected wastewater could migrate.
David Jeffery, a geology professor at Marietta College, said evidence of fluids appearing away from disposal sites indicates that the wastewater may be moving through subsurface rock formations rather than remaining confined near the injection wells. He said abandoned wells present an additional problem because many were drilled long before modern recordkeeping and safety requirements.
“We have no idea where they are,” Jeffery said of the undocumented wells.
Public concern intensified last year after state officials approved additional injection wells near Marietta. City leaders responded by declaring an emergency and asking Ohio regulators to suspend injection activity within six miles of the municipal aquifer. Eight other water authorities later joined the request for a moratorium.
Testing has not found evidence that Marietta’s drinking water has been contaminated. Water officials nevertheless warn that standard treatment systems may be unable to remove radioactive pollutants if they eventually reach underground water sources.
“If radioactive material were to enter the system, we don’t think we can remove it,” said Bob Allen, a board member of the Little Hocking Water Association.
Environmental organizations have also filed lawsuits seeking to block several proposed disposal wells near the city, arguing that state regulators failed to comply with required permitting procedures. DeepRock Disposal Solutions, which owns several of the affected wells, has defended the approvals and its operating practices.
The dispute took on greater urgency in July when Ohio regulators ordered four Washington County injection wells to stop operating, including a DeepRock facility near Marietta. Regulators said elevated pressure and fluid discovered in nearby oil and gas wells “could only be caused by nearby injection wells.”
That determination provided some of the strongest official evidence to date that injected wastewater was traveling beyond the locations where operators expected it to remain. The finding has strengthened calls for the state to reassess existing permits and delay approval of additional wells near public water supplies.
DeepRock attorney Laura Goins said the company recognizes the concerns of residents and remains committed to protecting public health, drinking water and the environment through a “science-based regulatory process.”
The debate now centers on whether current safeguards are sufficient to manage the long-term risks associated with injecting billions of gallons of contaminated wastewater underground. Marietta officials are pressing regulators to act before evidence of migration becomes evidence of drinking water contamination, arguing that waiting for a confirmed breach could leave the city without a practical remedy.
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