Arkansas Officials Claim Injection Wells Used for Wastewater are Causing Earthquakes

How do drilling companies dispose of drilling wastewater? In Pennsylvania and other locations, drillers recycle much of the wastewater (or fracking fluid) by mixing it with new water and reusing it. Some drillers are recycling 100 percent of their wastewater. But in some areas, drillers use a method called injection wells—pumping the wastewater down deep wells created specifically for disposing of it—in a place where it will not rise back to the surface.

Injection wells are being used in another shale formation, the Fayetteville Shale, in Arkansas. And use of those wells has caused some controversy. Some believe injection wells in Arkansas have led to earthquakes in the area.

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