MEMORANDUM

TO: Brian D’Amico, EPA/EAD

Lisa Biddle, EPA/EAD

FROM: Meghan Camp, ERG

Besty Bicknell, ERG

Brent Ruminski, ERG

DATE: 01 February 2012

SUBJECT: Notes on Conference Call with Reserved Environmental Services, LLC on 5 

January 2012

On 5 January 2012, EPA held a conference call with Reserved Environmental Services, 

LLC to discuss their plant operation in Mount Pleasant, PA. Discussion topics included:

• Introductions;

• Company Background; and

• Plant Flow Description.

Attachment 1 lists the meeting participants. Attachment 2 is a database of manifest records 

provided by RES.

Introductions

Two representatives from Reserved Environmental Services (RES), LLC participated on 

the call: Andy Kicinski (President) and Nicholas Haden (Vice President). Mr. Kicinski has a 

chemical engineering background and worked in the consulting industry for 30 years. 

RES operates a centralized waste treatment plant located on 133 acres of land in 

southwest Pennsylvania. The plant was Pennsylvania’s first centralized waste plant to treat shale 

gas extraction wastewater. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) 

had no guidelines in place when RES applied for permits. As a result, many of the guidelines set 

in place today were formed through work between PA DEP and RES. At the time of the call, the 

plant had been operating for 18 months, treating approximately 100 million gallons to date. RES 

is also in the process of developing a satellite treatment plant that will be approximately 1/3 the 

size of the Mount Pleasant, PA plant and will also operate in PA.

Company Background

Customers: RES’s customers include approximately 16 operators with wells located in 

Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Due to the high cost of trucking wastewater more than one to 

two hours from the well site, RES has an approximate 60 to 90 mile radius of service area. 
Memorandum

13 January 2011

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Although customers will occasionally truck wastewater further distances, the recurring 

customers operate within a 90-mile distance of Mount Pleasant, PA. This includes some portions 

of West Virginia. Specific operators mentioned included XTO, Atlas, Rice Energy, Range 

Resources, and Chevron. 

Although RES’s customers include 16 operators

1

, RES explained how it is difficult to 

predict how much wastewater they will treat on any given day. This is because the wells owned 

by their customers are in different stages of production and produce different volumes of 

wastewater depending on the current production activities at the well. Typically, at any given 

time, there are at least 5 or 6 customers who are fracturing and delivering wastewater for 

treatment.

Services: The plant is a 100% recycle, zero discharge facility. This means that all of the 

influent wastewater is treated and returned to the field for reuse in shale gas extraction activities. 

The company offers two main services (dumping and recycling) and one new service

(emergency dumping):

• Dumping— Operators pay to drop a load of wastewater off and leave.

• Recycling—Operators pay to drop off a load of wastewater and pick up a load of 

treated wastewater at the same time. They use the treated wastewater for the next 

fracturing job. The price for this service is actually lower than dumping only but 

may involve signing a contract. Operators that pick up treated wastewater can 

reduce trucking costs because the truck never has an empty load. 

• Emergency dumping—Holding pits in the fields occasionally develop leaks 

forcing operators to move a large amount of wastewater out of the pit in order to 

fix the problem. RES recently built a 10 million gallon holding pond where an 

operator can pay to temporally store a large amount of wastewater. They have 

provided this service 3 or 4 times.

Flow Rate: The plant typically treats 400,000 to 600,000 gallons per day. Wastewater 

arriving from different trucks is comingled and immediately mixed in a 200,000 gallon 

equalization tank. 

Costs: Due to the high variability in wastewater characteristics, the cost of treatment is 

difficult to estimate. Chemical adjustments are made every two hours depending on the influent

wastewater characteristics. Treatment costs will increase and decrease depending on required 

treatment chemistry. Mr. Kacinski estimated that, on average, it costs approximately 7 cents per 

gallon to operate the treatment system. Mr. Kacinski provided the following cost information, 

summarized in Table 1: 

• Charges to customers for dumping wastewater and recycling wastewater 

(dumping and clean water pickup);

• Average cost to RES to operate the treatment system;

 1 Attachment 2 contains a full list of operators that have dumped or recycled wastewater at the plant between 

November 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. 
Memorandum

13 January 2011

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• Estimated cost to RES to transport clean water via truck;

• Capital cost to RES to build the current treatment plant in PA; and

• Capital cost to RES to build a satellite plant 1/3 the size of the existing plant (in 

progress).

.

Table 1. General Costs

Type of Cost Reported

Cost

Dollars per 

bbl

Cents per 

gallon Other Cost

Charge to customers to dump wastewater 

only 5.25 12.5 --

Charge to customers to recycle wastewater 

(dump and pick up makeup) 3.99 9.5 --

Cost to RES to operate treatment system 2.94a 7a --

Cost to RES to transport clean water via 

truck b 1.26 3 --

Capital cost for existing plantc -- -- $6—7 million

Capital cost for new satellite plantd -- -- $3.5 million

a—Mr. Kacinski estimated this number based on the fact that he has a 20—25% profit margin.

b—These numbers are on $ per bbl per hour and cents per gallon per hour basis based on the fact that a typical 

trucking company charges $95 an hour regardless of whether or not the truck is loaded.

c—Estimated cost for the plant installed in southwestern Pennsylvania that is currently operational.

d—Estimated cost for a potential satellite plant that is approximately 1/3 the size of the current plant. 

Plant Flow Description

Figure 1 presents a flow diagram of the treatment system, which consists of the following 

components:

Wastewater Screening: When a truckload of wastewater arrives on site, the truck driver 

must first identify the type of waste and provide proof of the name of the generator. The types of 

fluids accepted include produced water, flowback water, top hole water2

, and drilling muds. 

Next, the load is sampled for pH, TDS, hydrocarbons, and TSS. Material that is prohibited 

includes the following:

• Condensates—No hydrocarbons are allowed to be unloaded into the main 

treatment train. If possible, an RES worker will withdraw wastewater from the 

bottom of a truck load leaving floating oils behind. If the customer desires, they 

may dump the remaining oil in a hydrocarbon recovery tank located on site. 

Periodically RES delivers the content of this recovery tank to a different company 

who processes the material to produce fuel. 

• Synthetic muds—These are drilling fluids where the base of the fluid is synthetic 

oil. Treatment of this fluid requires a special treatment unit that RES does not 

have. RES made it clear that this fluid is not accepted at their plant. They also 

mentioned this fluid is very valuable and runs about $13 per gallon. Synthetic 

 2 Water that flows to the surface during the initial drilling process.
Memorandum

13 January 2011

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muds may be picked up from a well site by truck drivers thinking it is a waste 

fluid. 

Main treatment train: After wastewater is sampled and screened, it exits the screening 

building and flows to the unloading area and enters the treatment system. The average treatment 

system flow rate is 600,000 gallons per day. Treatment steps include:

• Settling tanks— Several rectangular clarifiers (8’ x 24’ x 10’) are operated in 

parallel and in series to remove large suspended materials, such as sand and 

rocks. Sand and rocks are removed from the bottoms of the tanks while residual 

oil is skimmed from the top of the tanks and transported off site to be used as an 

energy source. The water is withdrawn from the middle layer and is sent to a 

flash mix box.

• Flash mix box—The flash mix box has a detention time of 2 minutes. Chemicals 

(e.g., sodium sulfide, sodium hydroxide) are added to assist in removal of iron 

and other metals. The treatment chemicals added depend on the specific 

characteristics of the wastewater at that time. Wastewater is tested and chemical 

adjustments are made every two hours. 

• Equalization tanks—RES operates two equalization tanks in parallel

• Reaction tanks—RES operates three 8,000 gallon reaction tanks in series. Water 

is chlorinated for disinfection. Chemicals may be added to assist in disinfection 

(e.g. sodium hypochlorite).

• Clarifiers—Two clarifiers are operated in parallel. Flocculants and other 

treatment chemicals are added to assist in the precipitation of solids. 

• Filter feed tank—Following clarification, wastewater is collected in the filter feed 

tank prior to entering the polishing filters.

• Polishing filters—Anthracite coal filters are used to remove suspended solids. 

• Final sampling—An automatic sampler takes an aliquot from the effluent stream 

and uses a portable GC/MS to measure the hydrocarbon content of the effluent. 

In addition to verifying the quality of the treated effluent, the GC/MS results help 

inform changes in treatment chemical dosages for the entire treatment system. 

• Recycle tank—The wastewater enters a 100,000 gallon storage tank located at the 

end of the treatment train until it is picked up by an operator. 
Memorandum

13 January 2011

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Figure 1. Plant Flow Diagram

Treated wastewater quality requirements: RES explained that operators have changed the 

requirements for treated wastewater because of changes in fracturing chemical additives. When 

the plant first started, operators required TDS concentrations in the range of 30,000 to 60,000 

mg/L. To meet this requirement, RES blended fresh water with treated wastewater. Recently, 

operators have been willing to use lower quality treated wastewater because friction reducers can 

now handle higher TDS concentrations.

3 Currently, operators require TDS concentrations in the 

range of 90,000 to 120,000 mg/L. Table 2 lists the general target levels for constituents in the 

treated wastewater.

Table 2. Target Treated Wastewater Quality

Constituent

Current Requirements (mg/L, 

unless otherwise specified)

TDS 90,000 to 120,000 

TSS <10

Iron <1.0

Bacteria Non detect

Sulfate < 50

Barium < 400

pH 8.5 (7.5-9.5)

a S.U.

Hydrocarbons Non Detect

a—RES reported 8.5 S.U. as the target pH but the range may be between 7.5 and 9.5. 

Sludge Handling and Radioactivity Testing: All sludge collected from various units in the 

plant is treated in a conventional gravity sludge dewatering unit and disposed via landfill. The 

 3 Friction reducers are less effective in higher TDS waters. Recent advancement has increased the allowable TDS 

concentration that allows the chemicals to remain effective.

Sludge 

Dewatering

Settling tanks

Solid waste to

landfill

Truck unloading 

area

Treated 

Wastewater

Storage

Equalization 

tanks

Screening

Chemical 

additives 

Wastewater Stream

Waste Streams

Flash mix box 

Chemical Additives

Chlorination

Clarifiers 

Reject wastewater 

back to operator

Chemical 

additives 

Truck pickup 

area 

Anthracite 

Filters

Sludge

Water quality monitoring
Memorandum

13 January 2011

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receiving landfill requires that RES test the sludge for radioactivity. Radioactivity is detected in 

the sludge waste typically around 80 mrem per hour4. The landfill’s limit for accepting waste is 

160 mrem per hour. RES has also tested the incoming wastewater for radioactivity in accordance 

with their radioactivity management plan. However, radioactive elements have never been

detected in the wastewater itself. RES was not able to provide specific information about their 

analytical methods at the time of the call, but stated that all sample analyses are done in house 

using standard methods.

Record keeping: RES commented that they have maintained detailed manifest records 

(see Attachment 2) since they first started operations. These records include sampling results, 

well ID, well GPS coordinates, well operator name, type of wastewater, and volume of 

wastewater. They also have adopted a strict policy that truckers who deliver wastewater must 

provide detailed proof of identification. 

Follow Up

Following the discussion, EPA asked RES for the information listed below:

• EPA asked for any sampling results with analytical methods. RES stated that they 

can supply the sampling results. However, the analytical methods they use are not 

EPA or API standards the analytical method information is not available. 

• EPA asked for a process flow diagram for the plant. 

• RES suggested that EPA talk to EPA regional offices and the Marcellus Shale 

Coalition for additional data. RES has already provided sampling data to those 

organizations. 

 4 Radioactivity measurements in the “sludge box” are taken at 8 different locations. 
Attachment 1

Table A-1. List of Meeting Participants

Name Affiliation Phone Email

Andy Kicinski, 

President

Reserved 

Environmental 

Services, LLC 

724-454-1611 akicinski@reswater.com

Nicholas Haden, 

Vice President

Reserved 

Environmental 

Services, LLC

412-784-3399 nhaden@reswater.com

Brian D’Amico US EPA 202-566-1069 Damico.Brian@epamail.epa.gov

Lisa Biddle US EPA 202-566-0350 Biddle.Lisa@epamail.epa.gov

Meghan Camp ERG 703-633-1684 meghan.camp@erg.com

Brent Ruminski ERG 703-633-1701 brent.ruminski@erg.com
Attachment 2

RES Manifest Records