Frac pond what is

While much of the water remains in the ground after fracturing, hundreds of thousands of gallons of produced water mixed with gas and oil do return to the surface. While produced water obviously creates environmental risks due to its oil content and radioactive contamination in many cases, even the fresh water supplies held in frac pits can be risky.

Any supply of millions of gallons of water in one location poses a risk of serious erosion and property damage if there is a dam collapse or overfilling from rainfall. Ponds and pits offer in-ground, rather than above-ground, storage for large volumes of water; which has many benefits despite the amount of space they take up. Thus, resulting in higher transportation or pumping costs.

Second, in-ground pits are also far less expensive to build in most cases, even after accounting for the cost of premium flexible liners. Finally, in-ground ponds and pits are just as easy as tanks to check for leaks when designed with double-layered liners and sump monitoring that immediately sets off sensors when liquid breeches the first liner layer.

These sump sensor designs are often even more sensitive than other types of level detection, allowing for the discovery of pit and pond leaks as soon as possible. Unlined storage pits and ponds will steadily lose water due to seepage. This is because even well-compacted clay soils have microscopic openings between the particles that allow water to escape.

All frac pits, regardless of the type of liquids they hold, must be lined to prevent seepage. Also known as frac pits, these large storage ponds are commonly lined with thick plastic that is sealed at the seams to prevent leaks. A frac pond is a necessity to fracking sites for several reasons but containing flowback is a major one. Flowback generated during extraction can contain chemicals, radioactive elements, and other hazardous contaminants.

The last thing anyone wants at the job site is a spill of these hazardous materials, so a high quality frac pond with a thick liner ensures they do not reach ground or surface water supplies. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of injecting pressurized water, chemicals, and sand into the ground to extract shale oil and natural gas. While fracking has transformed energy production in the U.

Read below for highlights and links to more information. In order to create a pathway to release shale oil and natural gas, drillers inject a well with 2. The water that comes back out flowback and produced water contains salts, hydrocarbons, metals, chemicals, and naturally occurring radioactive materials. The EPA considers this wastewater potentially harmful and it needs to be handled and disposed of appropriately.

The exact composition varies, as each driller has a proprietary mix of chemicals in its fracking fluids. The naturally occurring volatile organic compounds known as BTEX benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene are commonly found in petroleum products and in fracking wastewater.