{"id":15208,"date":"2017-03-21T13:38:48","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T17:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=15208"},"modified":"2017-04-19T14:08:24","modified_gmt":"2017-04-19T18:08:24","slug":"scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Question Risks of Using Oilfield Wastewater on Food Crops"},"content":{"rendered":"

The engineers and scientists who study the oil and gas industry\u2019s wastewater know the term \u201cbeneficial reuse\u201d well. It\u2019s the seldom-used technique of taking wastewater produced from an oil or gas well, treating it, and then using it for other purposes — like watering crops (including organic crops) or feeding livestock. \u00a0It\u2019s a rare practice that drought-stricken areas like California have used for a number of years, although little is known about associated health or safety risks since, usually, about 98% of wastewater is injected into disposal wells deep underground. However, as demands for water increase, and concerns about disposal wells (which have been linked to earthquakes) rise, beneficial reuse is being considered as a viable option.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But just because we can use wastewater for other purposes \u2013 does that mean we should?<\/p>\n

Scientists researching these issues<\/a> still have a lot of questions. Our recent article<\/a> in World Water: Water Reuse & Desalination\u2014<\/em>a publication of the Water Environment Federation — <\/em>\u00a0highlights some of the biggest knowledge gaps we still need to address in order to confidently answer that question.<\/p>\n

A couple of the largest questions needing answers: what is in this wastewater and could it be toxic?<\/p>\n

The oil and gas industry\u2019s wastewater contains a vast assortment of chemicals \u2013 including constituents that are pumped into a well, chemicals already present in the fossil fuel formation, and constituents that are formed when these chemicals mix. There is not a true count of how many chemicals may be in the water (another huge question to be answered), but a review of the national chemical disclosure database FracFocus<\/a> and other literature identifies more than 1,600 different chemicals potentially present.<\/p>\n

Some advocates for beneficial reuse argue we know enough to safely treat and use the wastewater for crop irrigation. But the unfortunate reality is that our current scientific methods can only detect about a quarter of those 1,600 chemicals. And we know even less about how toxic they may be \u2013 critical toxicity information is available for less than 20% of these chemicals.<\/p>\n

Even of the small group of chemicals in which detection methods do exist \u2013 they don\u2019t always work. Oil and gas wastewater is extremely salty, in some cases 10 times saltier than the ocean, and testing technologies don\u2019t always perform in such high salt content. Meaning we don\u2019t even know how to adequately detect potentially toxic chemicals.<\/p>\n

This kick starts a chain reaction of other unknowns. Without accurate testing, we can\u2019t know what chemicals we could be exposed to or how toxic those chemicals might be, which means we can\u2019t be sure that current treatment processes are effective or regulatory programs adequately protective.<\/p>\n

Even in California where the practice of using treated oil and gas wastewater for irrigating crops has been done for years, this practice is being looked at more closely. Last year The Central Regional Water Quality Control Board convened a panel of experts \u00a0to \u00a0examine the potential adverse impacts of beneficial reuse.\u00a0 The panel\u2019s work is still ongoing, but a report<\/a> authored by some of the panelists raised a number of viable concerns.<\/p>\n

EDF is leading a number of efforts to expand the needed science. Last year we held a series of workshops with experts from across the country to assess how we can use existing technologies and tools to help narrow some of these knowledge gaps, and as a result have spurred a number of new research projects, including some we are leading<\/a> to improve current wastewater testing methods.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re making progress, but we still have a way to go. Before policy makers start green-lighting an increase in beneficial reuse, we need to honestly acknowledge what is known, what is not, \u00a0what is of concern, and give science time to provide some answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The engineers and scientists who study the oil and gas industry\u2019s wastewater know the term \u201cbeneficial reuse\u201d well. It\u2019s the seldom-used technique of taking wastewater produced from an oil or gas well, treating it, and then using it for other purposes — like watering crops (including organic crops) or feeding livestock. \u00a0It\u2019s a rare practice …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31643,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[693,105758],"tags":[100168,42],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-15208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natural-gas","category-produced-water-natural-gas","tag-produced-water","tag-science"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nScientists Question Risks of Using Oilfield Wastewater on Food Crops - Energy Exchange<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scientists Question Risks of Using Oilfield Wastewater on Food Crops - Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The engineers and scientists who study the oil and gas industry\u2019s wastewater know the term \u201cbeneficial reuse\u201d well. It\u2019s the seldom-used technique of taking wastewater produced from an oil or gas well, treating it, and then using it for other purposes — like watering crops (including organic crops) or feeding livestock. \u00a0It\u2019s a rare practice ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-21T17:38:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-04-19T18:08:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2017\/03\/statebystatewastewater.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Mueller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Mueller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/21\\\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/21\\\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan Mueller\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3ba2d1efdf9aec01744572382420f82d\"},\"headline\":\"Scientists Question Risks of Using Oilfield Wastewater on Food Crops\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-21T17:38:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-19T18:08:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/21\\\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":640,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/21\\\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/statebystatewastewater.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"produced water\",\"science\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Natural Gas\",\"produced water\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/21\\\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/21\\\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\\\/\",\"name\":\"Scientists Question Risks of Using Oilfield Wastewater on Food Crops - Energy Exchange\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/21\\\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/21\\\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/statebystatewastewater.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-21T17:38:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-19T18:08:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3ba2d1efdf9aec01744572382420f82d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/21\\\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/21\\\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/21\\\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/statebystatewastewater.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/statebystatewastewater.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/21\\\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Scientists Question Risks of Using Oilfield Wastewater on Food Crops\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/\",\"name\":\"Energy Exchange\",\"description\":\"Accelerating the clean energy revolution\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3ba2d1efdf9aec01744572382420f82d\",\"name\":\"Dan Mueller\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.edf.org\\\/people\\\/dan-mueller\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/author\\\/dmueller\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Scientists Question Risks of Using Oilfield Wastewater on Food Crops - Energy Exchange","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Scientists Question Risks of Using Oilfield Wastewater on Food Crops - Energy Exchange","og_description":"The engineers and scientists who study the oil and gas industry\u2019s wastewater know the term \u201cbeneficial reuse\u201d well. It\u2019s the seldom-used technique of taking wastewater produced from an oil or gas well, treating it, and then using it for other purposes — like watering crops (including organic crops) or feeding livestock. \u00a0It\u2019s a rare practice ...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/","og_site_name":"Energy Exchange","article_published_time":"2017-03-21T17:38:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-04-19T18:08:24+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2017\/03\/statebystatewastewater.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Dan Mueller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Mueller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/"},"author":{"name":"Dan Mueller","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#\/schema\/person\/3ba2d1efdf9aec01744572382420f82d"},"headline":"Scientists Question Risks of Using Oilfield Wastewater on Food Crops","datePublished":"2017-03-21T17:38:48+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-19T18:08:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/"},"wordCount":640,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2017\/03\/statebystatewastewater.jpg","keywords":["produced water","science"],"articleSection":["Natural Gas","produced water"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/","name":"Scientists Question Risks of Using Oilfield Wastewater on Food Crops - Energy Exchange","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2017\/03\/statebystatewastewater.jpg","datePublished":"2017-03-21T17:38:48+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-19T18:08:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#\/schema\/person\/3ba2d1efdf9aec01744572382420f82d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2017\/03\/statebystatewastewater.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2017\/03\/statebystatewastewater.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/03\/21\/scientists-question-risks-of-using-oilfield-wastewater-on-food-crops\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Scientists Question Risks of Using Oilfield Wastewater on Food Crops"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/","name":"Energy Exchange","description":"Accelerating the clean energy revolution","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#\/schema\/person\/3ba2d1efdf9aec01744572382420f82d","name":"Dan Mueller","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.edf.org\/people\/dan-mueller"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/author\/dmueller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15208"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=15208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}