The Depths of Hydraulic Fracturing and Accompanying Water Use Across the United States

Jackson, Robert B.; Lowry, Ella R.; Pickle, Amy; Kang, Mary; DiGiulio, Dominic C.; Zhao, Kaiguang

doi:10.1021/acs.est.5b01228

Cited by 64 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The amount of separation between potable groundwater resources and drilling, stimulation and operation of wells associated with oil and gas activities is a critical consideration in oil and gas producing regions [13,40]. The required separation between unconventional oil and gas production and water wells in the USA is likely on the order of several hundred meters [41]. Analysis of several unconventional oil and gas plays indicated that only 1% of fractures propagate to distances of 350 m or more [42].…”

Section: Vertical Separation Of Water Wells and Hydrocarbon Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition for shrinking window of low salinity groundwater

Ferguson

McIntosh

Perrone

et al. 2018

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Groundwater resources are being stressed from the top down and bottom up. Declining water tables and near-surface contamination are driving groundwater users to construct deeper wells in many US aquifer systems. This has been a successful short-term mitigation measure where deep groundwater is fresh and free of contaminants. Nevertheless, vertical salinity profiles are not well-constrained at continental-scales. In many regions, oil and gas activities use pore spaces for energy production and waste disposal. Here we quantify depths that aquifer systems transition from fresh-to-brackish and where oil and gas activities are widespread in sedimentary basins across the United States. Freshbrackish transitions occur at relatively shallow depths of just a few hundred meters, particularly in eastern US basins. We conclude that fresh groundwater is less abundant in several key US basins than previously thought; therefore drilling deeper wells to access fresh groundwater resources is not feasible extensively across the continent. Our findings illustrate that groundwater stores are being depleted not only by excessive withdrawals, but due to injection, and potentially contamination, from the oil and gas industry in areas of deep fresh and brackish groundwater.

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Section: Vertical Separation Of Water Wells and Hydrocarbon Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition for shrinking window of low salinity groundwater

Ferguson

McIntosh

Perrone

et al. 2018

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…S1. Fluid injections into deeper formations, such as water disposal and waterflooding for enhanced oil/gas recovery, are ongoing and will continue to occur in California (54,55). In addition, geologic storage of CO 2 (56,57) …”

Section: Central Valleymentioning

confidence: 99%

Salinity of deep groundwater in California: Water quantity, quality, and protection

Kang

Jackson

2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Deep groundwater aquifers are poorly characterized but could yield important sources of water in California and elsewhere. Deep aquifers have been developed for oil and gas extraction, and this activity has created both valuable data and risks to groundwater quality. Assessing groundwater quantity and quality requires baseline data and a monitoring framework for evaluating impacts. We analyze 938 chemical, geological, and depth data points from 360 oil/gas fields across eight counties in California and depth data from 34,392 oil and gas wells. By expanding previous groundwater volume estimates from depths of 305 m to 3,000 m in California’s Central Valley, an important agricultural region with growing groundwater demands, fresh [<3,000 ppm total dissolved solids (TDS)] groundwater volume is almost tripled to 2,700 km3, most of it found shallower than 1,000 m. The 3,000-m depth zone also provides 3,900 km3 of fresh and saline water, not previously estimated, that can be categorized as underground sources of drinking water (USDWs; <10,000 ppm TDS). Up to 19% and 35% of oil/gas activities have occurred directly in freshwater zones and USDWs, respectively, in the eight counties. Deeper activities, such as wastewater injection, may also pose a potential threat to groundwater, especially USDWs. Our findings indicate that California’s Central Valley alone has close to three times the volume of fresh groundwater and four times the volume of USDWs than previous estimates suggest. Therefore, efforts to monitor and protect deeper, saline groundwater resources are needed in California and beyond.

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“…Understanding potential contamination pathways and sources is essential for protecting groundwater resources. Baseline data are essential for attributing groundwater contamination to specific anthropogenic activities such as oil and gas production [41] and waste disposal but is often lacking [42]. Deep groundwater is already used in the US, and, more commonly, in Mexico and other arid regions around the world.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deep groundwater quality in the southwestern United States

Kang

Ayars

Jackson

2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Groundwater demands are growing in many arid regions, and the use of non-traditional water resources, especially during extreme droughts, is increasingly common. One non-traditional resource is deep groundwater, which we define from ∼150 m to several kilometers or more deep. We analyze 41 081 data points from 17 basins in the southwestern United States (US) to estimate the distribution of fresh and usable deep groundwater for potential human consumption and irrigation. We find the Great Basin to have the largest percentages of fresh and usable deep groundwater with 88%, 96%, and 98% of the total dissolved solids (TDS) concentrations less than 1000ppm, 3000ppm and 10 000 ppm respectively. Seven out of the 17 southwestern basins indicate the presence of substantial quantities of usable deep groundwater (<10 000 ppm TDS). We also find that the Great Basin and the Central Valley of California have 64% and 36%, respectively, of deep groundwater with sufficiently low toxic (Na, Cl, and B) and trace element concentrations for irrigation use without treatment, with greater percentages available for more tolerant crops. Given the potentially large deep fresh and usable groundwater volumes across the southwestern US, it is important to characterize the resource and protect it for potential use in decades and centuries to come.

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The Depths of Hydraulic Fracturing and Accompanying Water Use Across the United States

Cited by 64 publications

References 17 publications

Competition for shrinking window of low salinity groundwater

Competition for shrinking window of low salinity groundwater

Salinity of deep groundwater in California: Water quantity, quality, and protection

Deep groundwater quality in the southwestern United States

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