Risk to Meander water supply is low, ODNR says

MINERAL RIDGE — The chances that Meander Reservoir would be contaminated if natural-gas wells are sunk near it are pretty low.

That’s the assessment the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District’s board of directors heard today from an official at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

The MVSD operates the reservoir to sell treated wholesale water to member cities of Youngstown, Niles and McDonald for sale to their customers.

Ohio Valley Energy Systems Corp. of Austintown is proposing drilling 12 wells on district property. The MVSD is looking at it as a possible revenue-generating project.

No action was taken by the board to contract with Ohio Valley.

“There is a risk [of contamination] but today it’s pretty darn low,” Rick Simmers, acting assistant chief of ODNR’s Division of Mineral Resources Management, told the board.

He cautioned that contamination can occur although on “rare occasions.”

Simmers added that he hasn’t heard of such drilling contaminating a public water source in Ohio.

During drilling, Simmers explained, there are actually three casings that are sunk.

Surface water and brine from the drilling process are channeled directly into a lined pit. The fluid is vacuumed into tankers and removed from the site.

The solids remaining in the pit would be removed and taken to another site on MVSD property or to a landfill.

There are also switches on storage tanks that contain gas, oil and brine that shut down the production system if a tank begins to leak, Simmers explained.

The drilling process takes about five days, he said, and ODNR inspectors are on-site daily, especially during critical phases where possible contamination could occur.

Simmers noted that the wells are not normally inspected after they begin producing because of the limited number of inspectors in the state.

The inspectors will look at a well if there is a complaint, he added.