More toxic chemicals found in oil and gas wastewater
High levels of ammonium, iodide can harm aquatic life, contaminate tap water
By Beth Mole
Whether trickling from cracked shale deep underground or gushing through an old-school well, wastewater from oil and gas production may carry two additional dangerous chemicals besides those previously known.
Harmful levels of ammonium and iodide have now been found in wastewater from conventional oil and gas production plus the more controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking. The chemicals, pulled up from the Earth, arrive at the surface at concentrations high enough to harm aquatic life and form cancer-causing compounds when mixed with the chlorine in tap water, researchers report January 14 in Environmental Science & Technology.