Federal officials have given energy and mining companies permission to pollute aquifers in more than 1,500 places across the country, releasing toxic material into underground reservoirs that help supply more than half of the nation's drinking water.

In many cases, the Environmental Protection Agency has granted these so-called aquifer exemptions in Western states now stricken by drought and increasingly desperate for water.

EPA records show that portions of at least 100 drinking water aquifers have been written off because exemptions have allowed them to be used as dumping grounds.

"You are sacrificing these aquifers," said Mark Williams, a hydrologist at the University of Colorado and a member of a National Science Foundation team studying the effects of energy development on the environment. "By definition, you are putting pollution into them. ... If you are looking 50 to 100 years down the road, this is not a good way to go."

As part of an investigation into the threat to water supplies from underground injection of waste, ProPublica set out to identify which aquifers have been polluted.

We found the EPA has not even kept track of exactly how many exemptions it has issued, where they are, or whom they might affect.

What records the agency was able to supply under the Freedom of Information Act show that exemptions are often issued in apparent conflict with the EPA's mandate to protect waters that may be used for drinking.

Though hundreds of exemptions are for lower-quality water of questionable use, many allow grantees to contaminate water so pure it would barely need filtration, or that is treatable using modern technology.

The EPA is only supposed to issue exemptions if aquifers are too remote, too dirty, or too deep to supply affordable drinking water. Applicants must persuade the government that the water is not being used as drinking water and that it never will be.

Sometimes, however, the agency has issued permits for portions of reservoirs that are in use, assuming contaminants will stay within the finite area exempted.

In Wyoming, people are drawing on the same water source for drinking, irrigation and livestock that, about a mile away, is being fouled with federal permission. In Texas, EPA officials are evaluating an exemption for a uranium mine — already approved by the state — even though numerous homes draw water from just outside the underground boundaries outlined in the mining company's application.

The EPA declined repeated requests for interviews for this story, but sent a written response saying exemptions have been issued responsibly, under a process that ensures contaminants remain confined.

"Aquifer Exemptions identify those waters that do not currently serve as a source of drinking water and will not serve as a source of drinking water in the future and, thus, do not need to be protected," an EPA spokesperson wrote in an email statement. "The process of exempting aquifers includes steps that minimize the possibility that future drinking water supplies are endangered."

Yet EPA officials say the agency has quietly assembled an unofficial internal task force to re-evaluate its aquifer exemption policies. The agency's spokesperson declined to give details on the group's work, but insiders say it is attempting to inventory exemptions and to determine whether aquifers should go unprotected in the future, with the value of water rising along with demand for exemptions closer to areas where people live.

Advances in geological sciences have deepened regulators' concerns about exemptions, challenging the notion that waste injected underground will stay inside the tightly drawn boundaries of the exempted areas.

12 Comments

1. 1. sparcboy 02:15 PM 12/11/12

   In many areas, communities cannot get water from wells because it causes subsidence, so all of their drinking water comes from surface sources. For decades these waters have been polluted by numerous industries, agriculture and even the waste discharge of other communities upstream. Farmers continue to drench our water with fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides
   
   Federal officials have given these entities permission to pollute water in many places across the country...
   
   And now all the focus seems solely on energy companies.

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2. 2. frankblank 02:25 PM 12/11/12

   Well, if aquifers can't afford campaign or SuperPac contributions, what do you expect.
   
   On top of that, I've never seen an aquifer hire a congressional slug as a lobbyist, so what do you expect?

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3. 3. RSchmidt 03:09 PM 12/11/12

   The EPA is misnomer and an empty shell. They have long been a rubber stamp for any kind of environmental assault so long as someone profits from it. EPA has fought to have their authority diminished and have had to be prosecuted to force them to do their job. Counting on the EPA to protect the environment is like counting on republicans to protect lower income families. Well call up the lawyers because this isn't going to be fixed any other way.
   

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4. 4. turell 06:09 PM 12/11/12

   I don't see any proof of contamination of potable aquifers in the article. Only a presumption that they will be contaminated. Why is that assumed?

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5. 5. Abrahm Lustgarten in reply to turell 06:35 PM 12/11/12

   I'm the author of the article. To clarify -- There are no assumptions here about contamination, and these are not cases of "risk" of contamination. These are cases in which the EPA has set up a process and overseen the ongoing injection of pollutants. The site permits list the contaminants being injected, the volume, the flow rate, and the aquifer formation receiving them. When the SDWA designates a USDW - an underground source of drinking water -- it has by definition defined it as potable and a viable source.

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6. 6. greenhome123 06:42 PM 12/11/12

   I personally like a bit of fracking fluids, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and fertilizers in my drinking water. Especially in the morning. It gives me that extra boost of energy I need to make it through the day. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Yea, it might kill a kid or older person, but who cares about them anyways.

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7. 7. MD from MN 10:49 PM 12/11/12

   Destroying tomorrow to cash in today... why is this perverse, self-cannibalizing behavior still tolerated in the United States? How do the dynamics of greed, cronyism, corruption and influence-peddling make destruction of our fresh water supply acceptable? One suggestion: Require insurance coverage on all fracking operations to place in escrow an environmental trust fund sufficient to repair any environmental damage from operations, regardless of cause. Counter greed with responsibility.

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8. 8. cajquark 10:20 AM 12/12/12

   The issue not being addressed is that the people who want to dispose of their industrial waste in the underground aquifers do not want to pay to clean up their waste. Instead, they want to pass the cost of cleanup to others, namely the public.

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9. 9. Unksoldr 11:18 AM 12/12/12

   Capitalism at it's best.

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10. 10. Uniformity 12:23 PM 12/12/12

    So much for the governments interest in its people. You guys are right, we are freakin corporate slaves and always will be because no good man can take the political job without the intent of their own greed.

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11. 11. patrickh74 01:20 PM 12/12/12

    EPA is pathetic and powerless! As long as power and fuel companies are allowed to pay off politicians, this bending over of America will absolutely continue. Make lobbyests illegal in Washington. Make it illegal for politicians to go on "vacations" on the lobbyest's dime. Make the idiots in Congress (opposite of progress) do their own research and actually have their constiuant's best interest in mind for once. But..... probably not.... in America!!!!!

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12. 12. Quinn the Eskimo 12:34 AM 12/15/12

    Want to see what's in store for poor and underrepresented peoples?
    
    List to a snake. Grover Norquist. He's running a coup on the U.S. He has never been elected to sh:t.

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