HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 8809INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8809
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Date: December 12, 2006
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SUBJECT: Water Purchased for Gas Well Drilling in Fort Worth
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The purpose of this Informal Report is to provide the City Council with information on how
much water gas well drillers are purchasing from the city, where this water comes from and
the impact on water supply. This report also includes an update on a pilot programs to treat
fracture flow -back fluid, along with other future alternatives under consideration. This is in
responses to a request during the November 14, 2006 Pre - Council meeting.
Background
The Bamett Shale is a geologic formation underneath about 15 counties positioned around
Fort Worth that is estimated to contain more than 26.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, making
it one of the nation's largest natural gas fields. However, the Barnett Shale's low permeability
makes it difficult to recover natural gas trapped in the shale, so hydraulic fracturing — pumping
fresh water into the formation —is used to create fractures in the shale and release trapped
natural gas.
A typical 3 -stage frac of the Barnett Shale requires about 2 million gallons of fresh water and
about 1.2 million pounds of sand. Several sources of water include purchase at the fire
hydrant from the city, local ponds on the surface owner's property, water wells drilled by the
drilling operator, trucking water to the site and limited use of recycling methods.
Pilot Programs
Several companies are recycling portions of the salt flow -back water. Devon Energy has a
large facility north of Sendera Ranch that can recycle about 250,000 gallons per day using the
distillation method. XTO Energy is also recycling portions of their flowback water. However,
both Devon and XTO reported that this operation is as cost effective as trucking waste water
to a commercial disposal site because the flow -back water must be trucked into this site for
processing, then the recovered brine solution must be trucked to market and the recycled
water must be trucked to a well site for reuse.
The Texas Railroad Commission has recently approved a pilot project that may result in
recycling as much as 85 percent of the freshwater used at gas drilling sites in the Barnett
Shale trend. Devon Energy Production Co., LP received authorization from the Texas
Railroad Commission (RRC) for a pilot project that will filter water through three membranes
to treat fracture flow -back fluid and allow most of this fluid to be reused.
Devon's project is the second water conservation pilot program approved by the Commission
for the Barnett Shale trend. The first pilot program, by Fountain Quail Water Management of
Jacksboro, was approved in 2005 and has been a technical success. Fountain Quail, using a
mobile heated distillation system, processed more than 1.6 million barrels of frac fluid to
recover 1.3 million barrels of reusable water. On Monday, the commission granted Fountain
Quail a permanent permit to operate a frac water recycling facility in the Barnett Shale trend.
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8809
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Date: December 12, 2006
Page 2 of 3
r
y SUBJECT: Water Purchased for Gas Well Drilling in Fort Worth
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Impact on Water Supply
In Fiscal Year 2005, gas well drillers used 431.7 million gallons of Fort Worth water
generating $996,699 in revenue. To put this in perspective, over 10.1 billion gallons of water
was used for irrigation in both the residential and commercial customer classes during the
same time frame. No gas drilling company was on the list of Top 10 water users and only one
was on the Top 25 users list. This was Antero Resources at number 11.
The volume used for gas well operations during FY2005 was less than 1 percent of the total
volume of water sales (See Graphs below). The 10.1 billion gallons includes metered
irrigation as well as an estimate of residential landscape water use. The impact of irrigation
on the City of Fort Worth water supply far exceeds the impact of water used in gas well frac
operation demands.
Gas Drillers' Water Use
❑Commercial Net of Oil & Gas ■ Who lesale ❑ Industrial ❑ Residential ■Oil & Gas Contract Meters
FY2005
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ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER
FY2006
1%
FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8809
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Date: December 12, 2006
A,"'T -1,% Page 3 of 3
• SUBJECT: Water Purchased for Gas Well Drilling in Fort Worth
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Future Alternatives
The possibility exists to reduce some, if not all, of the impact on the potable water supply by
using treated wastewater effluent to drill and fracture wells. The Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality has classified the Village Creek Wastewater Treatment plant effluent
as Type 1, which allows it to be used for industrial processes, among many other things.
The Water Department is planning to establish a temporary depot located at the Village Creek
Wastewater Treatment Plant allowing water haulers to obtain reuse water, provided they have
(a) set up a contract with the Water Department to obtain Type I reuse water and (b) obtained
a permit from the pretreatment program to ensure the tanker meets all the necessary
specifications for hauling within the city.
For the long -term, the department plans to construct a permanent Water Reuse Depot. The
department will be coming forward in the next 45 days with an M &C to extend the contract
with Kellogg, Brown, and Root to include the design and construction of a permanent Reuse
Water Depot. It should be noted, the above options will involve increased truck traffic near
the wastewater plant and wherever it is used throughout the city.
The Reuse Planning Grant Study now under way has identified four to six areas of Fort Worth
with potential for a reuse system. Through the study, scheduled for completion in April,
pipelines, pump stations and storage needs, as well as potential customers, are being
identified. Also, Chesapeake Energy has hired a consulting engineering firm to evaluate the
possibility of running pipelines from Village Creek to the 200 well sites planned at DFW
Airport.
Should you have questions regarding this item, please contact Water Director Frank Crumb at
(817) 392 -8243.
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Charles R. Boswell
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER
FORT WORTH, TEXAS