What Happened at Fernow
SAR
SAR is the Sodium Adsorption Ratio and it is used to determine if soil or irrigation water has too much sodium. Chlorides, salt, can kill plants (chlorides restrict the ability of plants to get water) or prevent seeds from germinating, but sodium's effect is isn't so obvious.
Sodium, if there's enough of it, negatively affects the soil and also plants' growth. In West Virginia, with its low soil pH, the negative soil effects of high sodium (crusting, imperviousness to water) are less prominent, but too much sodium impedes plant growth (sodium affects how plants get their nutrients).
SAR is used to measure sodium in soils (and irrigation water) by examining the relationship of three ions -- sodium, magnesium and calcium. A Colorado State University Extension Service Bulletin gives a good description of SAR and what it means. The formula for determining SAR is fairly complex but the Extension Service also has a page that explains how to determine SAR and has an online computer for SAR. We've only seen a couple soil samples for West Virginia with quantities of sodium, calcium and magnesium, and those samples' SAR values were less than 0.25. For liquid pit waste in West Virginia, we have only the results of sampling 5 pits made in the 1980s. The SAR values for those pits ranged between a "low" of 6.89 to a high of over 32. We have on this website an Excel workbook with a SAR computer and also a worksheet giving some of the constituents in those West Virginia pits. For irrigation water, a SAR of 3 to 9 is a slight to moderate hazard. A SAR over 9 is considered an acute hazard.
There is no way to know, because the state doesn't require testing for it, just how much sodium was in the waste landsprayed at Fernow. Nor do we know what the SAR was (if the reader takes a few minutes with the SAR computer download, they'll discover that increasing the calcium level, lowers the SAR; a mitigating factor for the Berry Energy well at Fernow may be that the site was on a limestone, calcium carbonate, rather than sandstone ridge). But if the sodium level was high, if the SAR was high, then there will be long-lasting effects on vegetation including trees.
Just like chlorides, the issues surrounding sodium are how high the amount should be in liquid waste and how much should be sprayed over how large an area. With the amounts of waste fluids created in drilling and fracturing wells on the increase, the issues of chlorides and sodium/SAR become even more important.
We think that the state should test the soil before landspraying and afterwards. We also think there needs to be limitations on receiving soil final SAR level and liquid waste to be landsprayed SAR level. In lieu of SAR testing, the state should determine a maximum sodium load per acre. Saskatchewan's was 250 kg/ha (222 lbs per acre).
The next chapter discusses how pit waste is treated before landspraying.
Go to Liming the Pit chapter.
What Happened at Fernow
Landspraying
Fernow Experimental Forest
Discharge Monitoring Report
Chloride Load
SAR
Liming the Pit
A Short History of Fracturing
Fracturing Chemicals
What Happened at Fernow
Recommendations & Sources
Gas Well Study is the examination of natural gas wells in West Virginia.
Underground Injection Control Class 2 Wells
These wells are used either for the disposal of oil and gas liquid waste or for the enhanced recovery of oil or natural gas.
Gas Well Study Site Visits
Annual reports, environmental assessments, and individual well information.
YouTube Videos
Select videos from the Gas Well Study YouTube channel.
What Happened at Fernow
An investigation into what caused the vegetation death in the land application area after landspraying hydraulic fracture flowback waste.
The Spill at Buckeye Creek
An investigation into a spill from a Marcellus well site into Buckeye Creek in Doddridge county.
The Details
Plunger Lift Technology on Gas Wells
Fluids Brought to the Surface during Production
Plugging a Well
How To Read a Lab Report
Information the Completion Report Provides
Casing and Cementing