The community meeting shows concerns about the injection fountain waste in Washington County

Vincent, Ohio (WTAP) -Dozens of people, including Warren Community Water officials, community lovers and other residents of the County County in Washington, attended on Tuesday evening at the Warren High School to experience problems that were provided by wastewater or brine from the injection bores.

The meeting, which the Buckeye Environmental Network helped at the organization and hostin, shared information about class II injection wells, which store the poisonous wastewater generated by hydraulic fracture or fracking.

According to Buceye Environmental Network Organizer Bev Reed, the fountains in Washington County receive an enormous amount of waste from oil and gas operation.

“In 2024 alone, 1.3 billion gallons wastewater were injected into the entire state of Ohio in class II,” said Reed during a presentation at the beginning of the meeting on Tuesday. “That is more than 2,096 Olympic swimming pools in just one year.”

The analysis of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources shows that this waste water is contaminated in Washington County. Officials from the Warren Community Water and Sewer Association are worried about other planned injection holes that contaminate the drinking water.

The Warren Water Treuhänder Randy Beardsley said they want to raise awareness of these concerns.

“We felt that it was our duty to inform the public that this is done in our community,” said Beardsley. “And we want people to be formed so well that we want to be informed about the laws and rules for the injection of Salzlake.”

Water manager Steve Hutchinson asked the members of the public to contact ODNR and their local representatives if they are obtained about these injection holes.

“Silence is acceptance,” said Hutchinson. “Let me repeat.

Stricter regulations and limits for injection holes were taken over by ODNR in 2022. However, these rules do not influence the existing fountains and do not apply to some wells that are currently planned.

Beardsley hopes that he will encourage the supervisory authorities to draw more attention to the topic in order to keep existing wells on a higher standard.

“I have the feeling that if you imposed these rules, the state and the producers and everyone involved did everything they can be protected within the law to protect the production fountains, the oil and gas wells and our water,” said Beardsley.

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