Robinson approves plant to recycle fracking wastewater
MCDONALD – Robinson Township officials have approved an application for a wastewater treatment and recycling facility that includes an impoundment.
Reserved Environmental Services, based in Bridgeville, plans to construct the plant at the site of a reclaimed strip mine used in the 1970s near the intersection of Route 980 and Route 22/30. A building, located on 20 acres of industrial-zoned land, will house internal tanks to process the water so it can be trucked out and reused in the hydraulic fracturing process.
An impoundment will be used to store as much as 15 million gallons of recycled water.
“We have a full-blown monitoring well system for any type of leak detection,” said company President Andrew Kicinski. “The pond will be triple-lined and have a monitoring zone between the layers to detect any kind of leaks.”
The liners are three to four inches thick. Kicinski said the company plans to use the facility for about 10 years, and it is expected to be operational by the first quarter of 2016.
Township manager Erin Sakalik said company representatives indicated the new facility will create about 20 jobs.