Water fouled with fracking chemicals spews near Windsor [View all]

[unhappycamper]

http://www.denverpost.com/environment/ci_22586154/water-fouled-fracking-chemicals-spews-near-windsor#ixzz2KtXZa9oE



A natural gas well near Windsor on Tuesday spews a smelly stream of steaming, greenish fluid after a mechanical failure on the surface of the site.

Water fouled with fracking chemicals spews near Windsor
By Bruce Finley
The Denver Post
Posted: 02/14/2013 12:01:00 AM MST
Updated: 02/14/2013 12:08:14 PM MST

State regulators say at least 84,000 gallons of water contaminated with oil and chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing spilled from a broken well-head in a field about 4 miles north of Windsor.

A mechanical failure at about 9:30 a.m. Monday sent a smelly stream of steaming, greenish fluid onto soil and required fire trucks testing air every 30 minutes to ensure leaking natural gas was not about to explode and the use of a vacuum truck to try to suck up the liquid, state natural resources spokesman Todd Hartman said.

The flow from the well bore was stopped more than 30 hours later.

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About 17 percent of 2,078 oil and gas spills that companies reported since January 2008 have contaminated groundwater. Fracking wastewater is one of the most common substances spilled.