Wastewater generated by unconventional oil and gas development (UOG), including those produced as a result of hydraulic fracturing, has the potential to impact the chemical and microbial environments of adjacent watersheds and forested land when stored in holding ponds. Leakage from holding pond liners or from pond overflow are two identified sources of wastewater’s entrance into the environment. A stream running alongside wastewater holding ponds at a facility in West Virginia was analyzed for spatial variability of microbial communities and geochemical and mineral makeup to determine the impact of UOG wastewater leakage and to investigate indigenous microbial populations’ potential to degrade organic additives used in hydraulic fracturing. Previous work demonstrates past UOG wastewater leakage, indicated by elevated conductivity, high Cl/Br ratios, hydrocarbon smells and sheens, and orange colored sediments. Variation in the microbial community between the impacted and unimpacted sites was categorized by Illumina sequencing. Enrichment cultures were established, selecting for Fe reducing bacteria and fermenters. Utilization of organic additives as electron donors was determined by colorimetric Fe assays of enrichment cultures to quantify Fe reduction rates and HPLC to quantify donor utilization and degradation products. Mineralogical differences between impacted and unimpacted sites and changes during the enrichment experiment were analyzed using XRD and VNIR spectroscopy. Better understanding of how these microbes utilize available additives will help guide future research in microbial mitigation of UOG contamination and provokes questions about the end products of degradation.

Microbe-metal interactions along a produced water impacted stream system

249th National Meeting (2015)

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