Frac water recovery is during the flowback/gas lift process which comes out of the well head/frac head through flow pipe to a frac tank which is hauled off by water trucks. Frac water pumped into the well during the frac is FRESH WATER which is pulled from a river, man made pond, fire hydrant and or any other source of fresh water.

The water source in question is definately fresh water... If it had chemichals in it used during the frac you would have dead animals all around trust me!!! A couple of chemicals used during the frac can be rust inhibitor and an antifreeze agent. One way to tell if the water is "produced" by the well is to check for salt residue/crystals all on the ground. The main ingrediants for a frac job is fresh water, sand and silicone to help the sand stick together.

As an oil field worker for many many years I can truly say times have changed drastically in the way business is being done especially on the Barnett shale with all of the tree huggers taking pictures and videos of us trying to document mishaps such as produced/contaminated water being spilled.

Injection well that was wore out and dumped in creek until trrc called, That red tank is now filled and drained into tanker and hauled off for disposal ever 2-3 days, Over all cost might of ran into $150,000+250,000 for ongoing remediation work here an other sites on lease due to number of violations.
Expect to carry locked an cocked or get kicked off when going out, gets rather nasty. Or as hauler says I dont drink the town water I know what is getting dumped. Or as howard? said we would kick you out an go right back to our way. Fairly Risky deal to report.

to my understanding used frac water does have to be stored in tanks, but I would be very leery of drinking out of the ponds, or eating a deer that drank, if there were a good deal of salt crystals indicating that it had came out of the well. Most areas of texas have high levels of underground radium in the formations, the radium bonds to the salt water and comes back up with it. I was on a testing crew once that measured old tanks and found radium levels of over 10 times the allowable limit. that's some bad stuff that once it gets in your system never comes out.

You mean tank batteries wore out, not injection well. An injection well doesn't just "wear out", nor can it spill into a creek on the surface unless the trucker dumped it in the creek. Injection/disposal wells inject produced water into previously depleted formations or formations with no producing hydro carbons.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your post? More details please.

Sorry,, Injection well (SITE) that was >>
Case Similar to plugging drain and leaving water on.Batterys were CUT after 2 weeks+- of over flow from up hill tanks to here, To drain an access submerged pump, Replaced that with another unit Same thing+- stalled out, Green storage tank over flo was lined to ground And let run as well produced 5+- gallons ever 30 seconds or so, Note no fence, collapsed burms/battery on first set, then raised an later fenced, Order after several more spills is close it out and relocate it away from water course.

There is an interesting documentary about this topic called Gasland. They talk about the flowback water and how it is full of chemicals. The water that comes back up from the well is bad news and hence why Gas Company are exempt from any Clean Water Acts as well as the 2005 Energy Bill. For clarity, i am Republican all the way, i love my gas guzzling truck, i love guns and shooting tasty criters. I dont like ruining the water supply and the earth for our children. http://gaslandthemovie.com/

It is an eye opening documentary.

The flowback never comes in contact with the soil, it's held in the reserve pits and then goes to a disposal. Vacum trucks suck the pit's dry.

Gasland is a complete joke, it's been debunked over and over again-


In the film's signature moment Mike Markham, a landowner, ignites his tap water. The film leaves the viewer with the false impression that the flaming tap water is a result of natural gas drilling. However, according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which tested Markham's water in 2008, there were "no indications of oil & gas related impacts to water well." Instead the investigation found that the methane was "biogenic" in nature, meaning it was naturally occurring and that his water well was drilled into a natural gas pocket.

This is one of several examples where the film veers from the facts. A second depiction of a flaming faucet in the home of Renee McClure also misleads viewers about the connection between natural gas development and methane in water wells. McClure's well was sampled by the state of Colorado and it, too, showed only naturally occurring methane.

The film's claims are so egregious that the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission was compelled to set the record straight. The COGCC information sheet corrects the film's misleading depictions and addresses false allegations of methane migration in Weld County.

Later in the film, natural gas is again falsely accused when the film flashes the words "35 mile fish kill Dunkard Creek Washington County PA.'' The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency investigated this incident and tied the fish kills to coal mine run-off. Here is the official report.

In an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, John Hanger, the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said the film is "fundamentally dishonest" and "a deliberately false presentation for dramatic effect."

Contrary to the film's misleading claims, natural gas production is subject to federal, state and local regulations that cover everything from initial permits to well construction to water disposal. 
In rare cases where incidents occur, companies work with the appropriate regulatory authority to promptly identify and correct the issue, and implement measures to ensure it does not recur.



Here are the facts, The citizens of the US and N TX especially are being slanted by an over sensationalized media with an agenda....

We drilled a water well a few years back on our woodyard in LA and hit a gas pocket. That was a site to see water spewed about 250ft. in the air for about 2 days before it died down.

The good thing about that dried drilling return is that the gel in it retains water like you wouldn't believe. It holds water for a longer period of time after a rain and when it rains again, it soaks it back up and holds it again. It's the next best thing to surface irrigation if you spread it out and plow it in about 6". I would say one word of caution. Common sense should tell us not to do this but... Don't wade off into one of those ponds.

Edit: I need to clarify something. There is more than one kind of drilling fluid. Some companies use an oil-based drilling fluid. It is hazardous. I can't post our Operational Safety Alert on the subject. Suffice to say you don't want to get any of it on you and unless a Deer will drink diesel fuel, there's not much risk in them drinking it if they come across it.