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Shale Gas Production and Produced Water Management Policy: A Case Study of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Managing produced water in unconventional oil and gas (UOG) industry is a growing environmental challenge as shale development expands globally. This study evaluates the operational and economic impacts of restricting produced water disposal in southwestern Pennsylvania, where concerns over injectio...

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Published in:Environmental Management Vol. 75; no. 12; pp. 3118 - 3132
Main Authors: Lee, Young Gwan, Elbakidze, Levan, Sharma, Shikha
Format: Journal Article
Published: Springer Nature Dec2025
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Dec2025
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      pub: Springer Nature
      place: New York, New York
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        atl: Shale Gas Production and Produced Water Management Policy: A Case Study of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
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          Lee, Young Gwan
          Elbakidze, Levan
          Sharma, Shikha
        affil: https://ror.org/011vxgd24 College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
      sug:
      ab: Managing produced water in unconventional oil and gas (UOG) industry is a growing environmental challenge as shale development expands globally. This study evaluates the operational and economic impacts of restricting produced water disposal in southwestern Pennsylvania, where concerns over injection wells and evaporation ponds are rising. We develop a regional mixed-integer programming model calibrated using data from 11,217 wells between 2015 and 2022. The model evaluates regional UOG production response to three policy scenarios, including prohibition of evaporation ponds, injection wells, and both. Results show that these restrictions lead to some adjustments in operational strategies but do not significantly reduce gas production. Producers respond by changing the mix and timing of wells to be completed based on site specific characteristics. Across scenarios, cumulative shale gas production declines by at most 3.2%, and net revenues fall by up to 5.6%. Produced water recycling increases by up to 6.4%, while freshwater use decreases by up to 0.3%. These findings suggest that targeted produced water management regulations can support environmental protection without severely compromising shale gas production or regional profitability.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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