Water Woes in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh’s environmental front has been abuzz about water issues of late. Perhaps discussion was sparked by June’s World Environment Day, but concerns are more likely a bi-product of the hottest industry in Pennsylvania: drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
For those who haven’t heard, the Marcellus Shale is an ancient rock formation, lying about 5,000 to 8,000 feet below a large portion of Pennsylvania’s surface. Experts say it contains enough natural gas to meet the country’s current consumption levels for abut 100 years. As a result, the natural gas industry, once thought to be in decline in Pennsylvania, is one of few expanding, growing and hiring in the Commonwealth.
But this isn’t your father’s natural gas industry. Gas extraction has gone high tech, using new methods to locate and drill in the areas that promise the best possible return on every dollar invested. Those practices use something called hydraulic fracturing, a technique through which water, sand, and chemical additives – mostly surfactants, like those found in soaps and shampoos, and biocides, like RoundUp – are forced into wells at high pressure to fracture or crack non-porous shale and release the gas.
There has been great debate since development of the Marcellus Shale began about the safety of the fracturing process and its possible impacts on the environment, particularly drinking water. While many remain convinced that frac chemicals will contaminate water supplies, no reported case studied by proper authorities and scientists has shown any connection between fracing water and water contamination in the 60 plus years the method has been used to stimulate various geological formations.
Even in two infamous cases – one in which there was a spike in dissolved solids in the Monongahela River and one which resulted in the decimation of life in Dunkard Creek – the gas industry was vindicated when actual studies and science reversed initial speculation of its guilt. The chances of having your drinking water contaminated by frac fluids? About 2 billion to one.
If it seems like the dangers of natural gas drilling pose drinking water are a little exaggerated, there are still plenty of good reasons to worry about the quality of water – many of which are a much greater threat than a process yet to be proven problematic at all.
First, there is the problem of combined sewer overflows. There are myriad problems related to sewage impacting water quality across the nation, but one of the most difficult resides in our cities and suburbs. The water and sewer lines and infrastructure that supports public sewage and drinking water systems is aging quickly even in the youngest of metropolitan areas. Many, like those in Pittsburgh, are well over 100 years old, thus the amazing number of water main breaks in recent months. Most are also overloaded. In addition to being taxed by the number of homes and businesses tied into them, these systems, unlike newer ones, usually also collect storm water.
The result? Sewage treatment facilities which process water prior to it being discharged to our water ways are overwhelmed every time it rains, leading direct discharged of waste water and raw sewage to waterways. Anyone truly interested in water quality in our rivers and waterways needs to recognize that this is an expensive process. Without rate increases, which everyone protests when they come up, things will continue to deteriorate. Want clean water? Start asking why the necessary upgrades aren’t happening faster.
Second, is the issue of “pharmaceutical” waste residue in waterways. In recent years, researchers have been finding a variety of substances in river and stream samples that shouldn’t be there, and have not traditionally been there before. These substances are often referred to as pharmaceutical wastes, but also include illegal drugs, substances and their derivatives. A recent survey in the Pittsburgh area found a disturbing quantity of anti-depressants and cocaine in the Monongahela River. Many of these substances are included in a group called endocrine disrupters, which studies have found to cause a variety of problems in humans. Keep in mind, as these substances work their way into our rivers and streams, they may also be turning up in municipal water systems, which usually have their intakes on major rivers and streams. This threat already exists. Concerned? Consider what leaves your home or workplace via plumbing systems. Look for naturally-based personal products and be careful not to flush prescription drugs for any reason. And once again, start demanding those upgrades to sewage and water treatment systems.
Third, is the dilemma of urban run-off. For years, water quality improvements focused on outfalls and discharge points for industrial facilities. Remember news reports with images of corroded pipes along the rivers below factories dumping who knows what into the water? Thanks to the national NPDES (national pollution discharge elimination system) program, those outfalls are permitted, monitored and regulated. But the general stuff that gets washed into the water either directly or through storm sewers and the like is not. Professionals call it “non-point source” pollution, meaning you can’t pinpoint it to some outfall pipe somewhere. It’s the oil that leaks from our vehicles in parking lots, or the deluge of water that careens through overdeveloped neighborhoods when it rains. It’s the fertilizer and weed killers applied to lawns, gardens, golf courses and recreational fields. It’s also run off from poorly maintained farming operations. Again, non-point source pollution is little recognized by activists as a major cause of water contamination, unless their ire is aimed at so called “factory farms.” Why? Its inconvenient, to steal a line from the embattled Al Gore. Could you imagine activists protesting at Oakmont during the LPGA tournament, because of the amount of water consumed by golf courses, the amount of chemicals used to make the greens that green or the modified seedings used to maintain courses? Of course not. Too many people love golf and cherish their greener than green postage stamp suburban lots. As one New York state firefighter recently said after visiting a natural gas well site, there’s more toxic chemicals in the local Agway store than on a well site.
Clean water is a major concern, and will only become more important as time goes on. Problems already exist in the Western United States. But it’s important to be realistic in our attacks on water pollution. Problems that exist deserve more attention than those that are only propagandized in our debates on how to best protect the environment.