Environmental and Human Health Impacts of Spreading Oil and Gas Wastewater on Roads

Thirteen states in the United States allow the spreading of OG wastewaters on roads for deicing or dust suppression. In this study, the potential environmental and human health impacts of this practice are evaluated. Analyses of OG wastewaters spread on roads in the northeastern, U.S. show that these wastewaters have salt, radioactivity, and organic contaminant concentrations often many times above drinking water standards. Bioassays also indicated that these wastewaters contain organic micropollutants that affected signaling pathways consistent with xenobiotic metabolism and caused toxicity to aquatic organisms like Daphnia magna. The potential toxicity of these wastewaters is a concern as lab experiments demonstrated that nearly all of the metals from these wastewaters leach from roads after rain events, likely reaching ground and surface water. Release of a known carcinogen (e.g., radium) from roads treated with OG wastewaters has been largely ignored. In Pennsylvania from 2008 to 2014, spreading OG wastewater on roads released over 4 times more radium to the environment (320 millicuries) than OG wastewater treatment facilities and 200 times more radium than spill events. Currently, state-by-state regulations do not require radium analyses prior to treating roads with OG wastewaters. Methods for reducing the potential impacts of spreading OG wastewaters on roads are discussed.