You know Wonderful Halos... The 'new' mandarin orange brand that is in the middle of a $100 million dollar marketing campaign that to let people know how healthy they are. I did a Google search and found a number of articles about how fruit growers are indeed using oil wastewater on their orchards.
http://freedomoutpost.com/are-these-com ... ste-water/
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/ ... bles-farms
http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_a ... wastewater
I e-mailed Wonderful's parent company, Paramount Citrus, on this situation and got a canned response in just a couple hours. I thought I'd share the response:
This is the same water that is causing health issues in fracking communities and now they are trying to half ass clean it and put it on our food supply. I'm disgusted and wanted you all to know this. The oil industry is unable to get all the oilfield contaminants out, so things like Benzene, Methlyene chloride and nasty hydrocarbons are going to get absorbed by the trees and eventually end up in the fruit and finally those that consume it. Snopes has this food contamination issue as a mixture of true and false, but it's confirmed that they can't fully treat the waste water and the long-term health impact is largely unknown. I'll pass on feeding Halos to a baby/toddler...Thanks for your inquiry. The Wonderful Company is deeply committed to ensuring that our customers enjoy the highest quality, most nutritious, and best-tasting fruits and nuts available. Our crops are irrigated with water from a variety of sources: groundwater, water from the State Water Project and Central Valley Project, water from local streams, and, in small amounts, water that is produced as part of local oilfield operations.
In the water short state of California, it is vitally important that we use our scarce resources sensibly. “Produced water,” which refers to water that is produced as part of the operations of local oilfields, helps ease pressure both on groundwater resources and sensitive ecosystems. With every barrel of oil produced from the oilfields east of Cawelo, Calif. comes ten times as much water; water that would be injected deep into the ground and wasted if not used for agriculture.
Rest assured, this water is treated extensively to remove as much oil as possible. It is then filtered and tested at multiple locations for the presence of contaminants. This rigorous treatment process brings the water’s hydrocarbon levels back to drinking water standards. It is a safe, reliable supply that is carefully monitored and regulated.