Evaporating fracking waste water viable way of disposal: report
by The Canadian Press
Pilot project in Nova Scotia concluded evaporation a viable means of disposal of waste water from fracking
HALIFAX—A pilot project in Nova Scotia that examined treated waste water from hydraulic fracturing has concluded that evaporation is a viable means of disposal.
Provincial Environment Minister Randy Delorey announced the results of the project, which disposed of two million litres of treated fracking waste water.
The project, approved in April, saw Atlantic Industrial Services, a division of Envirosystems Inc., ship the water from holding ponds in Debert, N.S., to a Lafarge Canada Inc. cement plant in Brookfield, N.S., where it was used as a coolant at a kiln.
The waste water was treated for naturally occurring radioactive materials and filtered to remove salts before it was evaporated in the kiln at 700°C.
Delorey said the water was analyzed and meets guidelines from the Canadian Council of Environment Ministers and Health Canada for release into a freshwater source.
The province’s Environment Department has received a request from Atlantic Industrial Services to remove and treat another five million litres of water at the Lafarge plant.
Delorey said a decision will be announced soon.
The department said there are 10 million litres remaining in two ponds at the company’s Debert site.
Triangle Petroleum Corp. also has 20 million litres of waste water in two holdings ponds in Kennetcook, N.S.
The waste water in both areas is from high-pressure fracking that took place in 2007 and 2008.
