Hundreds of illicit oil wastewater pits found in Kern County

Unlined waste-water pits produced from fracking and other oil drilling operations 
by Julie Cart environmental reporter for the Los Angeles Times

Water officials in Kern County discovered that oil producers have been dumping chemical-laden waste-water into hundreds of unlined pits that are operating without proper permits.

The pits raise new water quality concerns in a region where agricultural fields sit side by side with oil fields and where California’s ongoing drought has made protecting groundwater supplies paramount.

The Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources has admitted that for years it allowed companies to inject fracking wastewater into protected groundwater aquifers, a problem they attributed to a history of chaotic record-keeping.

“The state doesn’t seem to be willing to put the protection of groundwater and water quality ahead of the oil industry being able to do business as usual,” said Andrew Grinberg of the group Clean Water Action.

The pits — long, shallow troughs gouged out of dirt — hold water that is produced from fracking and other oil drilling operations. The water forced out of the ground during oil operations is heavily saline and often contains benzene and other naturally occurring but toxic compounds. 

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