I was amazed by the Nov. 18 Associated Press article, "N.D. OKs spraying roads with oil wastewater," though I didn't read it in The Bismarck Tribune, where it was the lead front-page article. I first read it on CBSNews.com, and a quick Internet search returned the same AP article picked up by news agencies everywhere. The article exposed to perhaps millions of readers the questionable practices and judgment of the North Dakota State Health Department.

This oil-field wastewater is known in the oil and gas industry as "produced water." Oil companies all over the world have long been dealing with the issue of produced water treatment and disposal, water that contains combinations of dissolved inorganic salts, oil droplets, dissolved organic compounds, chemical additives, treatment chemicals, dissolved gases such as hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide, bacteria, and other living organisms. According to the Produced Water Society, an organization of engineers and industry professionals, "the treatment of produced water is a major component of the cost of producing oil and gas. Wells may start out producing little water, but sooner or later all oil wells produce a much larger volume of water than oil. The ability to efficiently and economically dispose of this water is critical to the success in the oil production business."

The Health Department has offered the oil industry in North Dakota a way out of this economic burden, legitimizing a questionable practice in place in our state since the 1960s. Instead of treating or properly disposing of the produced water, the oil companies in North Dakota are allowed to generously donate their toxic wastewater to the state for use on our public roads.

Regardless of whether of not the produced water that the state has been pouring on our roads for over 40 years is safe, the North Dakota Industrial Commission or the Health Department should commission an independent scientific study of the produced water being used to further assure the public that this practice isn't nearly as stupid as it sounds. If the study confirms or contradicts what the Health Department has concluded, hopefully it can get as much press coverage as the AP's article.