Toxic accident dealt with quickly

Toxic accident dealt with quickly by Patrick Keller, May 14, 2008, Lakeside Leader
A bad week for industrial accidents near Slave Lake ended with a single vehicle collision near the Mitsue Industrial Park on May 5. Local police, EMS and fire department members responded to the accident, which occurred on the West Mitsue road at the Alberta Plywood complex just before noon. Produced water is a byproduct of the process of extracting oil. Essentially used to displace oil in the ground, the resulting water is considered ‘produced.’ As an oil well ages, more produced water is required. A U.S. white paper study of produced water report U.S. wells produce an average of more than seven barrels of water for each barrel of oil. For crude oil wells nearing the end of their productive lives, water can comprise as much as 98 per cent of the material brought to the surface. … Produced water contains elevated concentrations of heavy metals including barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, lead, nickel, silver and zinc. There are also small amounts of radium226 and radium228 and up to several hundred parts per million of volatile dissolved organic material.