Report: More fracking wastewater pumped underground in Ohio

COLUMBUS (AP)

State data shows the amount of hydraulic fracturing wastewater pumped underground in Ohio increased by more than 15 percent last year.

The increase comes as drilling for shale in the process known as fracking has slowed nationwide.

Fracking is when a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is pumped at high pressure into wells to fracture shale formations and free oil and natural gas underground.

The water can be recycled and reused, but it eventually must be disposed of. Ohio is best suited to take wastewater from other states because of its more than 200 injection wells.

A Columbus Dispatch analysis (http://bit.ly/1La4AXy ) of Ohio Department of Natural Resources numbers shows Ohio took in nearly 29 million barrels of fracking wastewater in 2015.

That figure is about 4 million more barrels than in 2014.

Injection wells pump wastewater from oil and gas drilling deep inside the earth. Some such wells in Ohio have been linked to earthquakes, including ones that occurred in the Mahoning Valley.