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Hydraulic Fracturing and Hydrocarbon Recovery—A Profitable Option As millions of natural gas wells are developed using hydraulic fracturing methods, the resulting wastes in the form of flowback and produced waters contain a variety of man-made and naturally occurring components that must be managed safely. According to a recent white paper, one of these components, hydrocarbons, […]
Hydraulic Fracturing Waste Streams—An Overview Hydraulic fracturing for natural gas uses millions of gallons of water for each well and during the life of the well, a large percentage of that water returns to the surface and becomes a waste stream. In the vernacular of hydraulic fracturing, there are two types of water resulting from […]
An Urban Stormwater Success Story in the Making It’s been said that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, but sometimes that grease can also get the wheel turning faster, as was the case in Omaha, Nebraska. Like many urban areas, the city had experienced adverse impacts from stormwater runoff, including one event when stormwater caused […]
EPA’s Strategy for Saving Our Urban Waters EPA’s Urban Waters program was created in alignment with the America’s Great Outdoors (AGO) Initiative launched by President Obama to reconnect people with conservation and outdoor recreation. While the Urban Waters program is not a regulatory program per se, it embraces a range of activities that may include […]
Hydraulic Fracturing—5 Reasons to Consider Wastewater Recycling 1) Hydraulic fracturing requires the use of millions of gallons of freshwater per well. Although hydraulic fracturing water volumes vary across the United States, a single well generally requires the use of one million to five million gallons of water, and the U.S. Department of Energy notes that […]
Hydraulic Fracturing—5 Things to Know About Risk in Wastewater Recycling 1) Operators need to establish treatment targets. To minimize the risk of choosing the wrong equipment for the job, and gain a performance guarantee, well operators should provide equipment suppliers with both the influent water chemistry and the specific output treatment objectives (as determined in […]
Six Tips for a Successful LUST Closure Tip #1: Understand how the UST program works. Because of the number and diversity of underground storage tanks (USTs) in use nationwide, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized early on that state and local governments were in the best position to oversee UST programs. To ensure state programs […]
Risk-Based Decision Making Basics RBDM is used more and more to facilitate effective and appropriate characterization and cleanup of UST releases. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), RBDM “is a process that utilizes risk and exposure assessment methodology to help UST implementing agencies make determinations about the extent and urgency of corrective action and […]
Wood-Burning Heaters—Safety and Efficiency Tips 1) Replace wood burning appliances manufactured before 1990 and only use EPA-Certified or EPA-Qualified appliances. According to the EPA, there are 12 million residential wood stoves in use in the United States and 9 million of those are older, not certified by the EPA and may be as much as […]
Radon Testing and Mitigation FAQs Q: Are there state requirements for radon testing and mitigation activities? A: States have radon and/or radiation programs with varying requirements and regulations. At this time, 15 states (CA, DE, FL, IA, IL, IN, KY, ME, NE, NJ, OH, PA, RI, VA, and WV) regulate or require qualification, certification, and/or […]