Deep Rock Disposal Solutions is Drilling a Class I UIC Disposal Well for Landfill Leachate Near Marietta, Ohio

     Class I injection wells are utilized to store industrial and municipal waste. There are not many Class I injection wells, about ten in Ohio. Deep Rock Disposal Solutions is drilling such a well at its facilities in Washington County, Ohio, near Marietta. The plan is to inject landfill leachate into the Rose Run Sandstone reservoir at around 8000ft in depth. The sandstone is a saline reservoir in this area, although it does produce significant quantities of oil & gas further west, where it subcrops at the Knox Unconformity in what are essentially buried outcrops or buried hills.

     ALL Consulting, which is managing the project, describes the well as a ‘non-hazardous Class I injection well.’ Below, ALL Consulting’s Dan Arthur, an expert on well plugging, a former EPA scientist, and educator, gave details of the project:

“ALL Consulting is currently managing a rather significant project that involves overseeing the permitting, drilling, completion, and testing of a Class I Non-Hazardous injection well in Ohio on a Design/Build (D/B) basis. This project will facilitate injection of landfill leachate to depths approximately 8,000 feet below land surface (into the Rose Run Sandstone) and eliminate the need for thousands of truck trips to haul the landfill leachate to the local public water treatment system for disposal. Regulatory requirements for Class I injection wells in Ohio are even more stringent than the U.S. EPA requirements for Class I wells, including performing 10 miles of seismic surveys to identify any faulting that could lead to induced seismicity, stringent casing and cementing well construction requirements, numerous geophysical logging suites and testing requirements to ensure compliance with all Ohio EPA Class I regulations. Class I injection continues to be the sound and environmentally friendly methodology approved by U.S. EPA to remove waste water streams from being discharged into the surface waters of a state.”

     The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notes that about 53% of Class I wells are non-hazardous industrial waste and 17% hazardous waste. The other 30% injects non-hazardous municipal waste, although all, or nearly all of these are in Florida.

     As Dan Arthur noted, Ohio, which has been granted primacy for Class I injection wells, has rules and requirements that exceed those of the U.S. EPA. One rule for Non-Hazardous Class I wells is the required geological studies as indicated below:

Geologic studies of the injection and confining zones to determine that:

• The receiving formations are sufficiently permeable, porous, homogeneous and thick enough to receive the fluids at the proposed injection rate without requiring excessive pressure.

• Formations are large enough to prevent pressure buildup and injected fluid would not reach aquifer recharge areas.

• There is a low-permeability confining zone to prevent vertical migration of injection fluids.

• Injected fluids are compatible with well materials and with rock and fluid in injection zone.

• The area is geologically stable.

• The injection zone has no economic value.

     The construction requirements for Non-Hazardous Class I injection wells are as follows:

• Approved engineering schematics and subsurface construction details. 

• At least two layers of concentric casing and cement.

• Outer (or surface) casing cemented to the surface. 

• Tubing and packer design based on:

o Well depth

o Characteristics of the injected fluid

o Injection and annular pressure

o Injection rate

o Temperature and volume of injected fluid

o Size of well casing

o Cementing requirements

• Tests during drilling to ensure no vertical migration of fluid.

     In addition, there are the following operation requirements:

• Maintain injection at pressures that will not initiate new fractures or propagate existing fractures.

• Approved fluids and permitted pressures must be maintained in the annular space.

• Continuous monitoring and recording devices.

     The project plans to inject up to 6000 barrels, or 252,000 gallons of waste per day into the well. If the well accepted that much waste every single day of the year, it would equal about 92 million gallons per year. However, that level of injection is not likely to happen. Injection pressures exceeding 13,000 psi are expected. That means that there would be some concern about induced seismicity, although there are no mapped basement faults in the area of concern for slipping. Nonetheless, with pressures and volumes that high, there will still be some concern.

     Environmental groups have expressed concern about contaminating drinking water aquifers, but that is not a realistic concern, except in the case of accidental spills. There has been some documented migration of injection water in the general area from Class II oil & gas wastewater injection wells. However, these wells injected wastewater into the much shallower Devonian Shale formation nearly a mile above the Rose Run Sandstone. The Devonian Shale exhibits fracture porosity, which may allow injected fluids to migrate much farther laterally through the formation, through the fractures. Wastewater is thought to have migrated a few miles, affecting producing gas wells in the Devonian Shale in the area. No water migrated anywhere near drinking water aquifers, being a few thousand feet below and separated by ample confining layers. Basically, the only legitimate concern for drinking water aquifers is through accidental spills. There is the same risk for spills now with trucking the waste to water treatment facilities. Keeping that waste out of the treatment plants makes it easier for them to treat existing water to adequate standards.

     Deep Rock Disposal Solutions has selected a 2-mile area of review (AoR), exceeding the requirement of a ¼ mile AoR.

 

     The company will utilize existing seismometer network stations around its nearby Class II injection wells to monitor any seismic activity. 

     The Ohio EPA held a 2-hour meeting in Marietta in September for the public, where many questions were asked.

 

References:

 

Ohio EPA to host public meeting about company’s proposal to drill class 1 injection well. YouTube. WTAP Parkersburg, WV.  Bing Videos

Class I Non-Hazardous Injection Well in Ohio. Dan Arthur. ALL Consulting. December 12, 2025. Class I Non-Hazardous Injection Well in Ohio - ALL Consulting

Requirements for Class I Injection: Wells and Class I Hazardous Waste Wells. Ohio EPA. uic-class1-requirements.pdf

Class I Industrial and Municipal Waste Disposal Wells. U.S. EPA. Class I Industrial and Municipal Waste Disposal Wells | US EPA

Injection Wells. Erin O’Neil. Marietta Times. July 29, 2025.  Injection Wells | News, Sports, Jobs - Marietta Times

Washington County Fights Back Against Proposed Class I Injection Well. Vanlyn Ramsay. Buckeye Environmental Network. September 11, 2025. Washington County Fights Back Against Proposed Class I Injection Well (9/9/25) - Buckeye Environmental Network