Is Hydrofracking a Potential Source of Earthquakes?

With the rising costs of gasoline and the increasing pressure to find sources of oil and natural gas, hydrofracking has become a popular method of attainment of oil & gas by such companies nation and worldwide. While fracking is cost-efficient and relatively environmentally friendly, scientists have seen many benefits to using fracking as a method of oil and gas removal. That is until recently, in which studies conducted over the past several months have led to findings by the USGS that the "spike in earthquakes since 2001 near oil and gas extraction operations is almost certainly man-made." While this has yet to officially be confirmed, there is much evidence suggesting that it is a very valid point. The fluid that is used in the hydraulic fracturing of each well is leading to the creation of increasingly larger amounts of wastewater, which are then most often injected into underground disposal wells. There exists thought that the wastewater injections are changing the pressure and adding lubrication along faults, thereby inducing seismicity. 

After reading the following article, I now can understand the reasoning behind the concern of individuals who have recently been informed that hydrofracking wells will be established nearby their residences. In California, a state bountiful with faults and renowned for earthquakes, I, too, would be very much concerned if the USGS installed a hydrofracking well nearby my home. Although this link between hydrofracking and induced seismicity has yet to be confirmed, the evidence that has been released thus far certainly is a cause for concern for those living within the vicinity of a hydrofracking well. 

For those curious to learn more about the process of hydrofracking along with some of the few environmental issues associated with it, please check out this video (accompanied with some very interesting narration!)

Moringa Oleifera... Shocking New Discovery

A very interesting method of water purification was released a couple of years ago, causing me to be a little surprised that I have yet to hear about it, especially as it proves to be both low-cost and efficient. As most of us are aware, many nations suffer from the lack of drinking water, particularly water in a purified form. Statistics show that nearly a billion people across Asia, Africa, and Latin America rely on untreated surface water for their daily needs, and of that approximately one billion people, about two million of those individuals die as a result of water borne diseases. A miraculous discovery has been made by Canadian researchers, involving the use of a tree called the Moringa Oleifera. This tree, a vegetable-producing tree with a wide variety of alternative uses, is found in nearly each of the regions suffering from lack of clean water. It has been found that the seeds from this tree can be crushed into a powder and used as a "water-soluble extract in suspension, [thus] resulting in an effective natural clarification agent for highly turbid and untreated pathogenic surface water." Proven effective, I can only hope that news of this discovery has been spread to those nations suffering from lack of clean water, and furthermore that world health organizations and similar programs striving to help those in need, are incorporating methods such as the planting of Moringa Oleifera's.

BOD

Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) serves as a way to test the level of pollution in our water. Students from USD went into Tecolote Canyon to test the BOD and found that levels were in the 'very good' range, bordering on the 'moderately clean' range, meaning that the waters in Tecolote Canyon are not heavily polluted by organic material.

In any given sample of water, there is dissolved oxygen. Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) is the amount of this oxygen that is used by pollutants in the water. Organic materials in the water are consumed by bacteria and this process uses up the oxygen in the water. The higher the BOD, the more organic material is in the water and the more polluted the water is.

Students in USD's Environmental Chemistry class went out seeking to determine the BOD levels in Tecolote Canyon and collected water samples from a creek near the golf course. After the samples were collected, the bacteria that consumes the organic material (pollutants) were still present in the water, so by storing this sample for seven days, bacteria in the water was allowed to consume the pollutants without the bacteria or pollutant level changing. The difference in dissolved oxygen between the first day and the seventh day was the amount of oxygen that was used in the process of bacteria consuming pollutants.

If this difference is very large, then there are a lot of pollutants to be consumed by the bacteria. If the difference is small, then the bacteria did not have a lot of organic material to be consumed. In this case, the difference between the first and seventh day was 2.34, which is in the 'very good' range. Above a 3 is considered 'moderately clean' and above 5 is 'somewhat polluted'.

The samples were also used to analyze the specific molecules in the sample. A gas chromatography machine allows us to put samples in and it uses known samples for comparison and outputs a spectrum of molecules found in the sample and properties of those molecules, then it makes its best guess as to what those molecules are. The molecules mostly seemed to be long chains of carbons and hydrogens, which might be indicative of fuels. Also found were various pollutants resulting from plastic production. No molecules were found in high concentrations that were toxic.

Overall, the samples collected were rather free of pollution.

Sediment Leaching

Sediment Leaching

In any given sample of soil, many organic and inorganic substances can be found.  In order to measure the concentration or amount of these substances, scientists sometimes use a separation technique known as sediment leaching.  In this, the metals are washed from the sample, and collected in a liquid.  This liquid, or eluate, is processed via atomic absorption (AA) spectroscopy to determine the concentrations.  The liquid eluate can also give information as to how good the sample is at neutralizing acids.  This leaching process has been modified and employed by metal, biological, and food processing industries alike.  Recently, in our Environmental Chemistry class, we tested three samples of "sediment": clay from either Arizona or Georgia, soil collected from Tecolote Canyon, and limestone.  The sample collected from Tecolote was within walking distance from our school, so our results have the potential to affect us all directly.  We measured the concentrations of the following ions: potassium, cadmium, copper, zinc, and magnesium.  

Our results indicate that limestone is the best at neutralizing acid, followed by our Tecolote sediment, and clay.  Furthermore, cadmium showed up in minuscule amounts in all the samples, which is good news, because of its inherent toxicity.  Basic compounds such as magnesium and potassium were found in higher amounts in the most neutralizing sample, limestone.  These results enforced previous research

This experiment matters because of the environmental implications a soil sample with high metal concentrations has. For example, plant growth is often greatly reduced in basic soil, because water and essential nutrients are not able to penetrate the soil.  This can cause stunted growth and nutrient deficiency.  Also, nutrient concentration and basicity of soil can counteract the affects of acid rain on our planet.  For more information on this topic, feel free to check out the following websites:

http://www.iss.it/publ/anna/2008/3/443252.pdf

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/333492/leaching

http://pesticidestewardship.org/water/Pages/Leaching.aspx

       

Italy to be the First Customer for LEAPmbr* Wastewater Treatment System

In Messina, Italy is to be the first customer of GE's LEAPmbr* which is a membrane bioreactor "wastewater-treatment technology"  that claims to reduce energy costs and increase productivity.  Once the new plant is in use it will be able to treat a yearly average flow of 21 million liters a day, which is approximately equivalent to 125,000 people's daily water use. 




http://www.thestreet.com/story/11525807/1/ge-announces-first-customer-in-europe-for-its-leapmbr-wastewater-treatment-system-near-messina-italy.html

Membrane Filtration

An Ontario-based company has developed a new membrane technology for purifying drinking water and treating wastewater that costs less than half as much to produce as competing products. After researching I found that they use reverse osmosis as the mechanism, which calculates the size particles to be excluded and use pores that are capable of trapping such particles. This technique is becoming more widely used as costs seem to be lower than other techniques of the past. 


http://www.waterworld.com/index/display/article-display/322063/articles/membranes/volume-1/issue-1/feature/trends-in-membrane-filtration-in-canada.html

China does not have a national law exclusively for wetland protection, which leads to the abuse of the wetlands as violators and polluters are not punished by the local governments or authorities. Since 1978 a total area of "8,152 square kilometers " have been destroyed.  As the article states, wetlands are considered some of the most biologically diverse ecosystems and act as the home to a wide variety of plants and animal life, the article give the example of  like migratory birds. The preservation of wetlands are not only vital in preserving the ecosystems they support but they are also responsible flood control and shoreline stability and play an important role in water purification. Often small villages and communities along the rivers and wetlands rely directly on the water purified from these wetlands for their source of water. Without proper action and protect abuse of the wetland will continue to occur and the water source for many will continue to be polluted. 


http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-05/14/content_15281008.htm

Treating Water With Solar Power

It seems that there are being many new ideas formed on how to clean and purify water, one of them being using solar power to purify water. WorldWater and Solar Technologies Inc. is a company based in New Jersey that is currently creating water purifying systems that treat water with solar. These systems are currently being used in war torn areas and areas that have suffered natural disasters and are not currently built to supply enough water for an entire city but the president/owner hopes to expand the company in the near future the purification systems can be used in larger populated areas.

Fracking Contaminating Our Water Supply

In an article published today, there is a discussion on how the lack of rules and regulations regarding shale gas wastewater are leading to a contamination of our ground water. Among the pollutants see are salts, oils, greases, inorganics, organics, and radioactive materials all of which can be toxic to humans and damage the eco-systems.
The NRDC is pushing for 2 policy changes that will force cleaner wastewater emissions and improve the safety of people.

San Diego Setting the Example

States in the Southwest region of the United States are facing the issue of diminishing water due to climate change. One way to solve this problem is to treat waste water and use that as a source of water. Obviously this does not sound like the most ideal plan, but it has been working in places like San Diego for awhile and now other cities are beginning to follow to solve the water deficit. 

This past weekend, the Advanced Water Purification Facility of San Diego gave free tours of the facility to people for Drinking Water Week 2012.  They are doing this to hopefully make it clear that clean water is important to everyone.  This article gives more details about why this event was happening and what the significance of the facility is.  One good thing about this facility is that it could give San Diego citizens a new, cleaner source of drinking water.

In this article, plans to build a water treatment facility on a Cherokee reservation are being discussed.  Previous to this water treatment facility, the reservation's water was chlorinated as a method of filtration.  As we learned in class, this method is not the best way to go about filtering the water because it released chlorine, which can harm the environment.  It also does not give the reservation as good quality of water than the surrounding area in Delaware County where they are building this facility.  This facility is going to try and give the Cherokees the same well-being that the non-reservation residents already experience.

River Respirators!

At a sea port in Savannah, Georgia, they are conflicted with their need for deeper river canals to keep up with the increasing size of cargo ships and their need to keep dissolved oxygen levels in the water high enough to continue to sustain aquatic life. This article talks about Savannah's plans to install a water bubbler, like in a home aquarium, to add oxygen to the water since the increased depth of the water will decrease the dissolved oxygen levels. This will be the largest scale project to oxygenate the waters of the Savannah River. Although their heads are in the right place, and they are thinking about the wild life as well, only time will tell if their efforts are effective.

Dissolved Oxygen in Tecolote Canyon Streams

Recently an Environmental Chemistry class at the University of San Diego went out to Tecolote Canyon to do some field research on the streams that run through the canyon. One of the points of research was to measure the dissolved oxygen content of the water there. Based off a few field trials, the dissolved oxygen content from the entire stream was around 5.504 ppm. Individual samples of the surface stream water were extracted for further analysis in the lab, and they recorded slightly higher dissolved oxygen content of 6.563 ppm.

What do these numbers mean? If you look at the chart at the bottom of this post, you can see what the ranges of dissolved oxygen mean. Both samples suggest that the stream has enough oxygen present to support fish life.  The surface water samples have a bit higher oxygen content because it is easier to have the oxygen in the air enter into a dissolved state in the water.

            Using equations, you can calculate the optimal dissolved oxygen content for a body of water at a given temperature. For this stream’s temperature, the dissolved oxygen should be around 10.41 ppm. Dissolved oxygen is affected by the following: movement of the water, the temperature, the organisms present, the altitude, and organic wastes. Since the recorded values of dissolved oxygen are lower than the calculated values, some of the factors aside from temperature that the equation accounts for are likely affecting the levels in Tecolote Canyon.

 

Chemistry vs. Bureaucracy

A whistleblowing chemist who warned first-responders to 9/11 lost her job at the EPA in 2010. She had been accusing the EPA of downplaying hazards associated with rubble and was repeatedly harassed for calling attention to his until she finally was sacked.

The dangers that she was calling attention to were high pH levels in caustic dust that was so corrosive that it caused chemical burns in the firefighters' lungs. The dangers might have been avoided if the rescue workers had been provided with adequate protective gear.

On May 7th this year, she was awarded her job back (with back pay!) by a federal court.

Toxic Trouble

An article published tonight discusses toxic substances which have escaped treatment in waste-water facilities and are escaping into the Colorado River. The study looked at water being discharged from waste-water facilities along the Colorado River. Over 100 toxic substances were measured, ranging from household medicines, to pesticides, cleaning products, and flame retardants. There are warnings which have been issued about eating the fish in the river as a way to avoid ingesting the toxic compounds. Overall it seems as though it is hard for water-treatment facilities to keep up with the amount of chemicals that are constantly being introduced into the environment.

Fish bones as a form of soil remediation?

Within the past year, new methods of  have been placed into effect, particularly those concerning the contamination of soils from lead. While many methods of soil remediation currently do exist, the newly practiced method includes that of depositing Alaska Pollock fish bones into soils with high levels of lead. The high levels of calcium phosphate present within the bones of the fish, migrate into the soils, whereby the lead then binds to the phosphates and forms pyromorphite. I think this method of soil remediation is particularly neat, especially as the fish bones would eventually be disposed of as waste, and through this method are able to be recycled. Additionally, the soil remediation process is complete within a matter of days, and is far more cost efficient than other means of remediation.

The image below shows a sack of crushed fishbone being worked into the soil to neutralize the lead.

What's your definition of "navigable waters"?

According to this article, many of America's largest water polluters are outside of the Clean Water Act's reach due to the Supreme Court leaving out these waterways from the law.  Consequently, these polluters are claiming that the law does not apply to their businesses, and pollution rates are rising.  The Clean Water Act was supposed to regulate every polluter, thereby ending dangerous water pollution.  However, currently, as many as half of all the nation's largest pollution contributors continue to pollute because the EPA and other officials lack jurisdiction.  

A court ruling limited the Clean Water Act to applying in "navigable waters," which, for decades, included most large wetlands and streams that connected to major rivers.  But recently, waterways that are entirely in one state, creeks that sometimes run dry, and lakes unconnected to larger water systems may not be technically "navigable" and therefore are not under the Act's jurisdiction.        

“We are, in essence, shutting down our Clean Water programs in some states,” said Douglas F. Mundrick, an E.P.A. lawyer in Atlanta. “This is a huge step backward. When companies figure out the cops can’t operate, they start remembering how much cheaper it is to just dump stuff in a nearby creek.”

I think this fact is frightening as well as frustrating.  It seems like companies will do anything to do the least amount of work possible, regardless of the consequences.  Something within the law needs to be changed, clarified, or both, especially because pollution from these waterways unprotected by the law can make its way into sources of drinking water.  

The mouth of Avondale Creek in Alabama, into which a pipe maker dumped oil, lead and zinc.
A court ruling made the waterway exempt from the Clean Water Act.

View the whole article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/us/01water.html?_r=1

Water Treatment: The New Renewable Energy Source

A relatively new company based in California has found a way to efficiently disinfect waste water. Pasteurization Technology Group, or PTG, combines wastewater disinfection with the generation of renewable energy. The technology used the digester gas, a natural by-product of wastewater treatment to drive a turbine that generates renewable electricity. This resulting energy can in turn be used (as heat) to disinfect the water. This process is efficient, and does not require the use of chemicals such as chlorine, or expensive electrical power and UV lamps.
Article here.

Scientific community expresses alarm at effect of CO2 levels on ocean pH

Anthropogenically created carbon dioxide is dissolving in the ocean and forming carbonic acid, decreasing the pH of the water. Professor John Beardall from the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University believes that ocean acidity levels will more than double by the end of the century. This is alarming to the scientific community because it is unclear how biological life will adapt to these changes, or if many aquatic species will simply be unable to cope with the changes and begin to die out. Specifically, Professor Beardall hopes to research the effects of said acidity on key Australian phytoplankton species.

New Dissolved Oxygen Data Logger Developed

Onset Computer Corporation has recently disclosed that it will be producing a new self-contained Dissolved Oxygen data logger, which not only will include many new technological features but will also set new standards for low cost. Specifically, the new system will cost $1250. The product marketing manager for Onset, Paul Gannett, was quoted as saying, "Fewer site visits, less calibration, and easy data offload in the field are just some of the benefits." After personally experiencing how to measure dissolved oxygen in the field on Monday, I can really appreciate the convenience, incorporated software and other technological advancements offered by this product.

Read more about this here!

Should We Continue Drinking Water Containing Fluoride?

We have all heard the saying too much of anything is a bad thing. Well that is the case when it comes to the issue of drinking water that contains fluoride ion in it. Fluoride has been proven to reduce cavities in children, and dentists have stated that having small amounts of fluoride in water only helps strengthen children's teeth against decay. However, it has been found that certain health problems have developed as people continue to drink fluoride containing water, including cancer. Because of the health problems that have been identified to be caused by fluoride in drinking water many people have started campaigns against having fluoride added to drinking water, stating that they already get the needed amount of fluoride from toothpaste and the additional fluoride they are getting from drinking water is doing more harm than good.

Ocean Acid Levels Alarming

Recently we have been talking about pH levels in water, and I stumbled upon this interesting article about how these factors affect marine life in the oceans.  Increases in anthropogenically-sourced, atmospheric carbon dioxide are threatening the global oceans.  According to research done at Colombia University, higher CO2 emissions are acidifying the oceans at an alarming rate.  In fact, the oceans are acidifying at a faster rate than at any time in the past 300 million years.  The water absorbs carbon dioxide, which turns into carbonic acid, in turn acidifying the oceans.  This drop in pH adversely affects marine life all along the food chain.  For example, when exposed to waters with lower-than-average pH, oyster larvae shells begin to dissolve before they fully form, and sea urchin larvae change shape.  All of this is leading to  higher rates of oyster larvae, sea urchin larvae, and barnacle mortality.  I also briefly looked over the comments posted at the bottom of the article, which were almost as interesting as the article itself.  Some of the people's comments really surprised me: "The next big hoax to fool the fools," "Sure pollution is a problem [ ... ] but the radical crying and whining isn't helping," "Democrats are making up science," and "the ocean is salty and cannot possibly turn acidic."  It seems as if about half the people who read the article do not believe the science.  There was even talk of a conspiracy involving President Obama, because of the Colombia connection.  It is funny how people react to hard-to-swallow, often scientific concepts like global warming, the overpopulation of the earth, or acidification of the oceans.  The motivations of these people are varied, but the science is concrete.  What are our thoughts on the article, people's reactions, or both?

Full article here: http://www.theolympian.com/2012/03/09/2022663/ocean-acid-levels-alarming.html#disqus_thread

No more coral reefs?

Ocean acidification was one topic which was discussed in our book. One website discusses ocean acidification and its impact on marine life. It is suggested that if CO2 emissions continue at their current rate, then most, if not all, existing coral reefs will be gone by the year 2050. This occurs because the decreased pH in the ocean prevents organisms, such as clams and coral reefs, from calcifying. This will not just mean a disappearance of coral reefs, but possible extinction of all marine organisms which inhabit the coral reefs. Furthermore tourist industries and people who survive off of the fish living in coral reefs will need to find a new source of income. In order to prevent their complete extinction CO2 emissions need to decrease.

Did Oxygen-Poor Waters Kill the Dinosaurs?

Could events that occurred around 252 million years ago parallel events that are currently being observed?  In two recent studies, from UC-Santa Cruz and Stanford, scientists are suggesting that the high levels of atmospheric carbon from volcanoes could have had a previously negated primary effect on oceanic organisms, especially those with calcium carbonate tests, before other organisms.  They concluded that the high levels of atmospheric carbon-based gases led exacerbated the extinction of up to 95% of marine organisms through a warming, acidification, and oxygen-reduction of the oceans.  With our emissions eclipsing those of volcanic emissions, are we leading ourselves towards another mass extinction? Read more about it here.