Mayfly on Fishing Rod

Mayflies, wastewater and the health of our natural water sources

From an Article by David Katz, Preserve the Beartooth Front, May 26, 2014

The life of the mayfly is one of nature’s amazing stories. They spend their first three years under water in the larval stage, and then emerge for a quick but eventful run as adults, with wings and reproductive organs but no way to ingest food, bite or sting. In the 24 hours or so they spend in adulthood, they become what one zoologist calls “little flying sex machines.” Their sole purpose is to reproduce.

What does that have to do with oil and gas drilling?

Potentially a lot. A recent study by the Stroud Water Research Center found that even highly-diluted levels of fracking wastewater, as low as 0.25% over a period of 20-30 days, could have a deadly effect on an insect known for its fragile beauty and long-considered a key indicator of stream health.

According to Senior Research Scientist John Jackson, who led the study, “Mayflies are a very reliable indicator of whether a stream is healthy or not healthy. When it comes to streams, we want to see vibrant communities of mayfly species there. So their conspicuous absence in a stream tells us something isn’t right. It’s not an environment where they are thriving.”

Key results of the study, which looked at mayflies, water fleas and fathead minnows:

• • Half the mayflies across three species studied died after 20-30 day exposures to concentrations of less than 0.5% produced water.
  • Among the mayflies that survived to reach the adult stage, development time slowed, indicating they were stressed.
  • Reproduction rate was significantly reduced in two of three species and somewhat reduced in the third, mostly because mortality increased and development time slowed.
  • The water flea was less sensitive than mayflies to produced water, but the fathead minnow was more sensitive than mayflies.

The mayfly in Montana
Montana contains 109 species of mayflies. The scientific order name is Ephemeroptera, Greek for “brief adult life.” The French call the aquatic insects éphémères, or “one-day flies.” Montana Outdoors describes them as “looking like miniature angels when flying and, with their delicate upturned wings, tiny sailboats when floating on the water.” They are an essential part of the food chain that keeps our natural water vital.

The mayfly hatch begins in March each year with the blue winged olive mayfly, a creature so prolific that it hatches three times a year, continues throughout the summer, and closes in October.

This study is a reminder of how vulnerable our natural water is. Very low levels of contamination from fracking wastewater can kill off the mayflies and ruin the health of our streams and rivers. We need to take responsibility as a community to make sure our water is protected. We can’t expect anyone will do it for us.

I’ll leave you with this lovely scene from A River Runs Through It, in which the Craig Scheffer character says they’re biting on “Bunyan Bug Stonefly #2.” I can’t really tell the difference between mayflies and stoneflies. Perhaps you can.

IHS Global Insight: Study of Jobs and Job Growth

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Data Seconded by EmploymentCrossing Job Research Data

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Job search data at Employment Crossing affirms the jobs trend emphasized by the IHS Global Insight report. (The report was funded by the oil and gas industry).

PWWEB News, December 26, 2012

A newly released study by IHS Global Insight claims that unconventional oil and gas production have become an engine of job creation and economic growth.

According to the report, America’s New Energy Future – The Unconventional Oil and Gas Revolution and the US Economy, shale energy has created at least 576,000 jobs in Texas, 102,600 jobs in Pennsylvania, 96,500 jobs in California, 78,900 jobs in Louisiana, and 77,600 jobs in Colorado. The report also claims that by 2020, Louisiana and Colorado would be displaced from their position in the unconventional oil and gas sector by Oklahoma and Ohio. The report was published in December and is co-sponsored by the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for 21st Century Energy.

The IHS report claims that already in 2012, employment in the entire unconventional oil and gas production sectors have added more than 1.7 million jobs to the economy. This number is expected to grow up to 2.5 million jobs by 2015, and 3 million jobs by 2020.

According to the IHS direct employment in the sector consists of about 20% of the jobs actually resulting from unconventional oil and natural gas activity while the rest is contributed by indirect and induced employment.

Job search data at Employment Crossing affirms the jobs trend emphasized by the IHS report.

Right now, as of 26th December, 2012, EmploymentCrossing lists about 50,766 job openings in Texas, out of which 7,863 jobs were in the oil and gas sector. However, a great number of the jobs in the sector, which varied from legal jobs, engineering jobs, and blue-collar jobs to accounting jobs were not directly into production of oil and gas, but indirectly supported by the industry or induced by it.

Pennsylvania shows about 75,158 total job openings on EmploymentCrossing, out of which 904 current jobs were related with oil and gas production though only 99 current openings had to do directly with the production of gas and oil. Similarly, California shows about 210,575 current job openings on EmploymentCrossing, out of which 1,569 oil and gas related jobs were there, though there were only 142 current openings in work directly in oil and gas production.

Speaking on the seeming anomaly about numbers, Harrison Barnes, the CEO of EmploymentCrossing said, “Live job openings in the oil and gas sector on job boards always remains few in number, because they are filled usually within days, and cease to be listed on EmploymentCrossing. However, the ratio of job distribution in the gas and oil sector as highlighted by the IHS report is very valid, because, as job openings listed on EmploymentCrossing show, about 20% of the jobs are directly into oil and gas production lines and 80% are indirect jobs associated with the industry. For example jobs of analytics, consultants or the jobs of attorneys with oil and gas experience would not be categorized directly under oil and gas jobs as they are not working at production lines.”

The original version of the above article is on the  PRWeb Internet site.