American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2019 - 122

GWPC Explores Groundwater Options
OKLAHOMA CITY-Increasing populations, regional droughts, declining groundwater levels and other factors are increasing
freshwater supply stresses, the Ground
Water Protection Council observes, and
when surface water is scarce, communities
and industries typically turn to groundwater.
The national association of state groundwater
protection and underground injection control
agencies adds that a certain byproduct of
oil and gas production, produced water,
may become a resource that could reduce
freshwater use for some needs.
"As a national association of state oil
and gas regulators and environmental
protection agencies, we are concerned
about the overuse of fresh groundwater
resources and wanted to explore how
produced water might help fill that gap,"
says Mike Paque, GWPC's executive director. "By identifying opportunities and
challenges of using produced water and
offering options for addressing them, the
GWPC hopes to facilitate the development
of produced water as a supplement to
freshwater use and fulfill its mission to
promote the protection and conservation
of groundwater for all beneficial uses."
GWPC outlines that vision in a report
that examines regulations, practices and
research needed to expand produced water
usage. "This report considers produced
water to be a potential resource rather than
a waste." Although most produced water
has never had any use before it is brought
to the surface, the term 'reuse' is commonly
assigned to produced water that is or will
be used for a beneficial purpose," the group
notes. According to the report, reusing
produced water accounts for less than 1%
of water produced, with the oil and gas industry reinjecting most produced water
into producing reservoirs to enhance production or into porous rocks for disposal.
According to GWPC, while produced

water is being used in applications inside
and outside of oil and gas operations,
many potential applications remain. It
adds further research is needed to assure
these potential uses are suitable and safe.
The report looks at three aspects of
produced water:
· The legal, regulatory and operational
framework of managing it;
· How unconventional oil and gas
operations use it; and
· Research needed to safely use it
outside of oil and gas operations.
Produced water is classified as an
exempt oil and gas waste stream, GWPC
says, meaning it isn't subject to the Subtitle
C (hazardous waste) provisions of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
Its management comes under two federal
permitting programs: the National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System and Underground Injection Control-with both administered primarily at the state level.
Using Produced Water
As states and regions look to become
more water resilient, GWPC predicts the
role of produced water will expand.
U.S. population is expected to increase
by more than 50 million between 2000
and 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau predicts.
When those growing communities need
fresh water, they typically turn to groundwater to meet their needs, but GWPC
points to concerns about those resources'
adequacy. It notes in one example that as
of 2015, storage in the High Plains aquifer
was about 2.91 billion acre-feet, a decline
of 9% since significant groundwater irrigation development began in 2015. On a
national scale, about 811 million acrefeet was extracted from groundwater
sources between 1900 and 2008.
Based on 2012 data, the nearly 1 million producing oil and gas wells in the

PULIDO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FROM PAGE 111
my wife. We have 18 oil wells in the
SCOOP. I get to put the hat on sometimes, go down to Mountain View, Ok.,
and see those wells humming. Your industry is America's economic engine.
Everyone who wants to be negative and
downgrade what we do in this room
should remember that planes ain't gonna
fly without fuel."
He recounted driving in Kansas and
marveling at all the evidence of the oil
and gas industry dotting the landscape.
"You see so many oil wells and all the

infrastructure in El Dorado," he described.
"And then, on the west side of the state,
you see the infrastructure and hard work
and all the energy-producing people that
make things happen."
Pulido also touted the work of the
Folds of Honor foundation, which provides
educational scholarships for spouses and
children of fallen soldiers to honor their
sacrifice. "We have raised more than $150
million and awarded more than 26,000
educational scholarships to deserving military families," he detailed.
❒

122 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

United States generate 21.2 billion barrels
of produced water annually, GWPC says,
an amount equivalent to 2.7 million acrefeet a year. The council estimates 45 percent of produced water generated from
onshore domestic activities is reused
within conventional oil and gas operations,
where it is injected into formations to
enhance recovery. Most of the remainder
is handled as wastewater.
Outside oil and gas, produced water
is used in a few limited applications such
as livestock watering, stream augmentation
and irrigation of selected crops, GWPC
says. However, those applications account
for less than 1% of produced water use.
"Realizing the promise of increased
beneficial reuse of produced water will
not be a simple matter," the council asserts.
"It will require addressing substantial economic, technical, regulatory and environmental challenges. Given these complex
factors, it would be unrealistic to suggest
that all produced water can be put to beneficial reuse. Yet it is important for policymakers to recognize all the potential sources
of water in an area to meet user needs."
Unconventional Uses
A multistage hydraulic fracturing treatment of a single horizontal well uses an
average of 12 million gallons of water,
GWPC says. In regions with limited source
water or disposal capacities, the report
forecasts produced water reuse may become
economically viable and operationally
practical. The area where reuse is highest-the Appalachian states of Pennsylvania
and West Virginia-and the area where
reuse is increasing fastest-West Texas and
New Mexico in the Permian Basin-are
regions where disposal options have been
or may become limited and disposal costs
have been high or are increasing.
"Water treatment requirements for reusing produced water in hydraulic fracturing
are far less demanding than for uses
outside the industry," GWPC assesses.
vances in hydraulic fracturing allow operators to use produced water with minimal
treatment, addressing a few specific constituents to create 'clean brine.' The approach is significantly less costly than
more advanced treatment regimens such
as those necessary to remove salts. However, in limited cases, advanced treatment
still is done to provide an option that
could meet discharge water quality requirements or reduce the potential risk
from a spill."
The council notes the high costs of
transporting and storing produced water,
particularly in areas lacking an established

American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2019

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