Kennetcook Wastewater Request Approved

The Department of Environment has authorized a request from Atlantic Industrial Services to begin treatment and disposal of hydraulic fracturing wastewater stored in two holding ponds near Kennetcook, Hants County.

"This is a significant milestone and good news for Kennetcook residents who have been looking forward to disposal since the evaporation pilot proved to be a viable solution for addressing the province's hydraulic fracturing wastewater last year," said Environment Minister Randy Delorey.

Like the pilot, wastewater will be treated for naturally occurring radioactive materials and put through reverse-osmosis. The treated water meets the Canadian Council of Environment Ministers and Health Canada guidelines for release into freshwater.

The twice-treated water will be transported from Kennetcook to the Lafarge cement plant in Brookfield where it will be used as a coolant in the kiln and evaporated at 700 C.

Initial project work is expected to begin next week and will include relocating the company's water treatment equipment from Debert to Kennetcook. Up to eight truckloads of treated water will be transported daily for evaporation at the cement plant.

Triangle Petroleum currently has 20 million litres of wastewater in two holding ponds in Kennetcook.

Since last year, Atlantic Industrial Services used the process to successfully dispose of more than eight million litres of wastewater stored at their facility in Debert.

The wastewater is from high-pressure hydraulic fracturing that took place in 2007 and 2008.

Results from the pilot are available at www.novascotia.ca/nse/pollutionprevention/pubs.asp .