Oil Wells Produce More Than Just Oil - Environmental Impact of Produced Water

Salt scar near Lake Skiatook, Oklahoma, caused by a produced-water spill.

Pumping oil and gas out of the ground also produces large volumes of water with undesirable quality known as produced water. Safely disposing of this highly saline water and mitigating the effect of past disposal practices is a national concern for environmental officials, land managers, petroleum companies, and land owners. The U.S. Geological Survey's Toxic Substances Hydrology Program and the Energy Resources Program, along with their partners, have initiated a multidisciplinary investigation to determine the fate and transport of contaminants contained in produced water on the near-surface environment at Skiatook Lake in the southeastern part of the Osage Indian Reservation in northeastern Oklahoma. The results of this investigation will help provide some of the information environmental officials, land managers, petroleum companies, and land owners need to develop cost-effective programs to assess the environmental impact caused by disposal of produced water and to clean up contamination related to the improper disposal of produced water.

More Information

• Environmental Impact of Saline Water Produced During Petroleum Production - Osage-Skiatook Petroleum Environmental Research Project
• Produced Waters Studies, USGS Energy Resources Program
• Produced Waters Database, USGS Energy Resources Program

Related Headlines

• USGS Science Featured in a Special Issue of Applied Geochemistry on Contamination from Oil Production
• Special Edition of "Environmental Geosciences" Explores Impacts of Oil and Gas Production on the Environment
• Improving Cleanup of Contamination from Oil and Gas Production

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