Abstract
Public concern about oil and gas (O&G) operations in residential areas is substantial. Noise from construction and drilling related to O&G operations may be greater than other phases of O&G operations; yet the impacts of audible and low-frequency noise during these operations are not extensively explored nor the effects on health well understood. This study documents the noise levels at a multi-well O&G well pad during construction and drilling in a residential area in Colorado. A-weighted (dBA) and C-weighted (dBC) noise measurements were collected at four locations during development over a 3-month period. The maximum 1-min equivalent continuous sound levels over a 1-month period were 60.2 dBA and 80.0 dBC. Overall, 41.1% of daytime and 23.6% of nighttime dBA 1-min equivalent continuous noise measurements were found to exceed 50 dBA, and 97.5% of daytime and 98.3% of nighttime measurements were found to exceed 60 dBC. Noise levels exceeding 50 dBA or 60 dBC may cause annoyance and be detrimental to health; thus, these noise levels have the potential to impact health and noise levels and associated health effects warrant further investigation.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 538-547 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 1 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Acknowledgements This work was funded by support from the National Science Foundation (NSF CBET-1240584; www.airwatergas. org) and research was conducted as part of the AirWaterGas Sustainability Research Network. We thank Kelsey Barton and Jonathan Heywood for this assistance with this work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Nature America, Inc., part of Springer Nature.
Keywords
- Construction
- Drilling
- Health
- Low-frequency noise
- Noise
- Oil and gas operations
- Sound