Residents of an Oklahoma town hit by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in September have filed a class-action lawsuit against more than two dozen of energy companies, accusing them of triggering destructive earthquake by injecting wastewater from oil and gas production underground.Pawnee residents filed the suit in district court against 27 companies, saying they operate wastewater injection wells even though they know the method can cause an earthquake. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount for property damage and reduced value, plus emotional distress.

Plaintiffs say that the town has been rocked with an additional 52 earthquakes since September, damaging numerous buildings near Cushing, home to one of the world’s largest oil hubs. The suite alleges that, in addition to the most recent earthquake, the thousands of earthquakes in Oklahoma in recent years are nearly all due to underground wastewater disposal.

WEF, Department of Energy sign Memorandum of Understanding

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Water Environment Federation ( WEF ) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in support of the DOE Better Buildings Wastewater Infrastructure Accelerator initiative . The initiative engages state, regional, and local agencies working with water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) to accelerate innovative approaches to sustainable infrastructure of the future.

The MOU partners will jointly promote the initiative, encouraging WRRF innovative approaches in accelerating improvements in energy efficiency, and facilitating and collaborating on technical peer exchange opportunities to share best practices and solutions.

Water and wastewater treatment technologies market to grow by $20B by 2021

The global market for water and wastewater technology should reach $92 billion by 2021 from $72 billion in 2016 at a compound annual growth rate of 5 percent, from 2016 to 2021, according to Research and Markets report Water and Wastewater Treatment Technology: Global Market.

The study evaluated the demand for 15 generic types of products commonly used by owners and operators of water and wastewater treatment facilities in 136 countries. It provides forecast data for those products, for which BCC Research projects demand will exceed $1 million annually in 2016. Products covered include pipes and fittings; pumps; valves and controls; activated sludge; anaerobic digestion; nutrient removal; sedimentation; advanced treatment equipment; primary, secondary and tertiary treatment equipment; activated carbon; aluminum sulfate; calcium hydroxide; and specialty chemicals.