Which Energy Stakeholders Are Really Trying To Save Freshwater?

As the drilling industry comes to terms with the need to preserve freshwater resources, a few companies are actually trying to do it.

Cal Cooper of Apache Corporation says his employer is making freshwater conservation a priority.

“There is no rule that requires other companies to do that, but our chairman and our board said, ‘You’re going to do it.’ So for us it’s a rule,” he said, according to the Midland Reporter-Telegram. “We were driven in the beginning by economics and by the fact that all of the guys that live there didn’t want to use one drop of fresh water.”

Fasken Oil and Ranch, a drilling operation, is also making an effort.

"By June 2014, after years of developing technology for treating brackish water, Faskin’s eliminated the use of freshwater from their drilling operations on their northwest ranch," the report said, citing  Fasken regulatory affairs coordinator Jimmy Carlile. Fasken "has drilled more than 5,000 vertical wells on one 160,000-acre ranch northwest of Midland," the report said.

A key part of the progress made by these companies has surrounded their approach to brackish water.

"Both Fasken and Apache developed ways to eradicate sulfates and chlorides from the brackish water. The two companies use a nano-filtration system that filters out sulfates and chlorides from both brackish water and 'produced water,' or the groundwater that returns to the surface during the hydraulic fracturing process with even higher amounts of contaminants. To date, Fasken has recycled over 3 million barrels of water to use in fracturing operations," the report said.

"Apache mixes the brackish and the produced water together, Cooper said, so 'we are able to eliminate the need for freshwater to do hydraulic fracturing,'" the Texas Tribune reported.

Pioneer Natural Resources is also trying to limit its freshwater use.

"Last year, the company struck a deal with the city of Odessa to renovate the city’s water treatment facility in exchange for its wastewater. The company is also in talks over a similar deal with the city of Midland -- a $100 million facility renovation in exchange for 20 years of the city’s wastewater at a discounted rate," the report said.

Susan Spratlen, a vice president with Pioneer, explained the approach.

“When we looked at our water sources very broadly, a year ago we decided to take a very broad approach,” she said, per the report. “Using the effluent from the city is our first significant investment that we started to make.”

The amount that the drilling industry spends on wastewater treatment is expected to go way up. A paper by Bluefield Research says the number will rise from $138 million to $357 million in 2020, which is almost triple.

For more on produced water, visit Water Online's Produced Water Solution Center.