States Consider Ways to Reuse Fracking Wastewater

State environmental agencies are grappling with ways to reuse the water generated as an oil, gas and fracking byproduct, sometimes under pressure from both lawmakers and the public, a group of agency chiefs said Sept. 26.

In Colorado, for example, the idea of using so-called produced water, rather than magnesium chloride, to control dust on roads has taken hold in the state House among lawmakers hoping to save money and find a beneficial purpose for the otherwise useless water, said Martha Rudolph, director of environmental programs at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Magnesium chloride costs roughly 10 ...