By John F. Stolz, Ph.D., Professor, Biological Sciences, Duquesne University

I was down at the Belle Vernon municipal waste water treatment plant April 11. I got samples and did tests for salts and metals. The leachate was very similar in composition to produced water (I don’t test for organics). Further, it had a high concentration of bromide. This is why it is illegal to take liquid drilling/fracking wastes to municipal waste water treatment facilities. The leachate is so toxic (it smelled like diesel and had a thick black oily layer) it killed the microbes that are supposed to be treating the sewage. As a result, the facility was discharging basically untreated sewage, with contained nitrate, nitrite, and phosphate (which is supposed to be removed) as well as bromide. The intake for the Charleroi drinking water plant is just down stream.

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