Coal-bed methane discharge water threaten to strangle the flow of untreated water into ephemeral drainages
February 13 2007By BRANTLEY HARGROVE
News-Record Writer
bhargrove@gillettenewsrecord.net
As upcoming rulings on coal-bed methane discharge water threaten to strangle the flow of untreated water into ephemeral drainages, treatment is looking better all the time.
Now, about 60 percent of produced water is dumped down drainages. A little more than 1 percent is treated — that figure may soon change.
The Environmental Quality Council in a week will consider a proposed rule that could more effectively protect agricultural uses of coal-bed water. They will also preside over another rulemaking down the road that may more stringently protect landowners from coal-bed water that is a nuisance, can cause injury or promote some kind of pollution.
It’s not a problem that’s going to evaporate anytime soon.
As a general rule, the average well produces around 2 barrels of water per million cubic feet of gas. That figure will only rise as the water-laden seams of the Big George in
Even so, gas operators have been reluctant to wade into water treatment.
Historically, it’s been seen as something of a caustic that dissolves profits.
The treatment process itself has endured a few fits and starts:
The most notable is Anadarko Petroleum Co.’s mineral zeolite treatment that was relegated to the scrap heap, along with mounds of zeolite.
Reverse osmosis has made some showing, but according to those in industry, it’s prohibitively expensive and can’t handle the saltier waters of the northern and western