A well drilled for a Coshocton County family in 2017 ran clean for years, then turned salty and corrosive at the start of 2021, according to a Rolling Stone investigation. The family replaced two hot water tanks in four years as the problem worsened, and the well sits near two oil and gas wastewater injection wells. State regulators eventually concluded the contamination was natural. Independent experts who reviewed the same test results came to a very different conclusion.
A Complaint, Then a Call to ODNR
Bill Burgan, who drilled the 360-foot well for the family in 2017, called the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in November 2021 to report the problem, according to the investigation published by Rolling Stone, published in partnership with DeSmog. ODNR launched an investigation after Burgan's complaint, and spokesperson Tamara Richards said at the time that the probe would focus solely on contaminants tied to oil and natural gas exploration and production. Burgan told the outlet he believed the contamination was fracking waste. Buckeye Brine operates an injection well less than two miles from the family's home and has injected more than 400 million gallons of waste there since 2014, per the same investigation.
ODNR's final report, completed in January 2022, instead attributed the contamination to the naturally salty Big Injun sandstone formation. The agency investigated producing oil and gas wells within a half-mile of the home but did not investigate the Buckeye Brine injection well named in the original complaint, the Rolling Stone account states. Testing found total dissolved solids and chloride at more than five times EPA limits, and sodium at 17 times the EPA threshold, in the family's water.
Experts Clash Over What the Numbers Mean
Geologist David Jeffrey said those same high levels of total dissolved solids, chloride, and sodium are hallmarks of fracking wastewater, not groundwater, and criticized ODNR's testing for failing to examine enough parameters to rule out an industrial source, according to Rolling Stone's reporting. Independent experts who reviewed the Coshocton test results separately assessed them as consistent with fracking wastewater contamination. ODNR official Mary Mertz said state officials would have heard about resulting contamination, while ODNR's Eric Vendel said the agency had received no call about water contamination that he knew of and would investigate a complaint. Ohio officials told Washington County residents the state was unaware of drinking-water contamination caused by wastewater injection, per the same reporting.
The dispute lands against a backdrop of mounting documented leaks elsewhere in the state. Ohio regulators have halted operations at more than half a dozen injection wells over concerns about wastewater leaks, according to Rolling Stone, and fracking wastewater has traveled up to five miles underground to contaminate conventional oil and gas wells in prior cases. Four Class II injection wells in Washington County voluntarily ceased operations on July 1 and 2 after ODNR identified impacts to nearby oil and gas wells, according to Farm and Dairy. An earlier ODNR investigation in 2019 had already found brine waste migrating up to five miles into 28 production wells, with one well, Redbird No. 4, leaking 4.2 million gallons into affected wells.
One Farmer, Dozens of Flooded Wells
Among those affected, landowner Bob Wilson said 50 of his 171 wells had been flooded with brine waste, the Farm and Dairy report notes, though a separate account from Signal Ohio put the figure at least 55 wells flooded since about 2019. ODNR-related reports said nearby private water wells had not been affected by brine waste, based on independent studies the agency commissioned, and the agency was seeking a third-party consultant to study the wells again. At least three other conventional oil and gas operators reported flooded wells in the preceding couple of years, according to a report from WBUR.
Geologist David Jeffrey has also argued that the deep rock formations in southern Ohio are fundamentally unsuitable for waste injection, citing low porosity and permeability alongside naturally occurring salt water already present underground, per the Farm and Dairy report. ODNR has separately said drinking water can be endangered when injected brine escapes the injection zone or area of review, according to the Signal Ohio account.
Scale of Ohio's Injection Well Industry
Ohio ranks among the top 10 states in oil and gas production, and the state has permitted more than 240 injection wells for disposing of oil and gas waste, according to Rolling Stone. That figure differs slightly across sources: the Signal Ohio report put active injection sites at 232 with 19 more permitted or under construction, while a federal inventory cited by the Allegheny Front put the 2024 count at 245 — differences that may reflect different dates or classifications. Washington County alone has 19 injection wells, more than the entire state of Pennsylvania, which has 19 such wells statewide compared with a few dozen in West Virginia, per the New York Times.
Washington County accepted 11.9 million barrels of oil and gas wastewater in 2023 and 2024, most of it imported from other states, Farm and Dairy reported, and more than 2.8 billion gallons have been injected in the county since 2010, according to the News and Sentinel. Ohio oil and gas companies pay just five cents per barrel to dispose of in-state wastewater and 20 cents per barrel for waste imported from other states, netting the state an average of $2.4 million annually, Rolling Stone reported. Fracking operations can occur within 100 feet of a school or rural home under current rules.
Political Fight Over a Moratorium
Four injection wells sit within two miles of Marietta's drinking-water sources, with three more that could be drilled if approved, according to the Times. Residents, public officials, and water-system administrators have said the disposal practice threatens drinking-water sources for 32,000 people in Washington County. Marietta City Council president Susan Vessels, a Republican, led the council in passing a resolution last October urging a three-year moratorium on new injection wells in the county.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, Ohio's former state health director, has committed to a three-year moratorium on wastewater injection wells in Washington County and pledged a pause on new wells in the densely drilled area, the Times reported. ODNR also suspended the permit for three injection wells in Athens County that were later shut in for leaking fracking wastewater, underscoring that the Coshocton case is not isolated. More than 60 people attended an Ohio EPA hearing on a fourth proposed Buckeye Brine injection well, and not a single attendee spoke in support of the permit, according to the Coshocton Tribune. The Fisher family declined to participate in the Rolling Stone story, which was reported by Justin Nobel.
