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Assessing dermal exposure risk to workers from flowback water during shale gas hydraulic fracturing activity
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Assessing dermal exposure risk to workers from flowback water during shale gas hydraulic fracturing activity

Bevin Durant, Noura Abualfaraj, Mira S. Olson and Patrick L. Gurian
Journal of natural gas science and engineering, v 34, pp 969-978
Aug 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jngse.2016.07.051
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel

Abstract

Dermal exposure Flowback Hydraulic fracturing Risk assessment Shale gas
Hydraulic fracturing is a well stimulation technique used in the production of natural gas from shale. While hydraulic fracturing has been in use for decades as a method for oil and gas recovery, recent advances in horizontal drilling techniques and fracturing fluid production have made previously unattainable natural gas reservoirs accessible and economically recoverable. Flowback water produced from the hydraulic fracturing process can pose environmental and human health risks. The objective of this study is to assess cancer risk following dermal exposure to flowback water among workers at hydraulic fracturing sites. Median, 2.5th percentile, and 97.5th percentile concentrations for high priority constituents in flowback water were collected from a previous study and used to estimate cancer risk from dermal exposure to carcinogenic agents in water compared to a target lifetime cancer risk value of 10−6. Hazard quotients, which compare exposure dose to dose at which no adverse effects are expected, were also calculated for non-carcinogenic components of flowback water and compared to an acceptable value of 1. The cancer risk estimate for median concentrations did not exceed the target lifetime cancer risk of 10−6 except for benzo(a)pyrene where the cancer risk of full hand exposure to flowback water for 3 h (one event per week for 4 years) falls within this range (2.9 × 10−6 – 1.4 × 10−5), which exceeds the target risk level even at the 2.5 percentile value. The upper limit of cancer risk form exposure to heptachlor also exceeds 10−6 in this model. Hazard quotient for barium in the same model exceeds 1 (1.7) and results in a total hazard index of 2. •Risk from dermal exposure to flowback water from shale gas activities is examined.•Total risk from dermal exposure to flowback water once per week for 4 years exceeds target values (10−6).•Risk from dermal exposure to parameters in flowback is only significant for benzo(a)pyrene.

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10 Record Views
19 citations in Web of Science
18 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#13 Climate Action
#6 Clean Water and Sanitation
#3 Good Health and Well-Being
#14 Life Below Water

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Web of Science research areas
Energy & Fuels
Engineering, Chemical
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