Potential effects of deep-well waste disposal in western New York

Mathematical and laboratory models were used to observe, respectively, the hydraulic and chemical reactions that may take place during proposed injection of a highly acidic, iron-rich waste pickle liquor into a deep waste-disposal well in western New York. Field temperature and pressure conditions were simulated in the tests. Hydraulic pressure in the middle stages of the initial (1968) injection test had probably hydraulically fractured the Cambrian sandstone-dolomite formation adjacent to the borehole. Transmissivity of the formation is 13 feet squared per day. The proposed rate of injection (72,000 gallons per day) of waste pickle liquor would approach a wellhead pressure of 600 pounds per square inch in about a year. Hydraulic fracturing would reoccur at about 580 pounds per square inch. The measurable cone of influence would extend about 22 miles after injection for 1 year. Chemical reactions between acidic wastes and brine-saturated dolomite would create precipitates that would drastically reduce the permeability of the unfractured part of the dolomite. Nondolomitic sandstone permeability would not be affected by chemical reactions, but the pores might be plugged by the iron-bearing waste. The digital model can be used for qualitative predictions on a regional scale. (Woodard-USGS)