BCWWA 2013 Annual Conference , water resources series presented by Don Nash of Urban Systems

1. Water Sustainability Committee
Hydraulic Fracturing Focus on
Water

2. BC Water& Waste Association
Water Resources Overview
Northern BC
Montenay Water Project - Source: Geoscience BC

3. BC Water& Waste Association
Unconventional Gas Reserves
Overview
North American Gas Reserves - Source: Encana

4. BC Water& Waste Association
Shale Gas Deposits North
America
Source: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP)

5. BC Water& Waste Association
What is
Hydraulic
Fracturing
Source: CAPP

6. BC Water& Waste Association
Regulatory Overview BC
• Oil and gas activities in British Columbia are governed by the Oil and
Gas Activities Act. Other regulations that support the Oil and Gas
Activities Act are:
– Pipeline and Liquefied Natural Gas Facility Regulation,
– Consultation and Notification Regulation,
– Drilling and Production Regulation,
– Environmental Protection and Management Regulation,
– Geophysical Exploration Regulations,
– Administrative Penalties Regulation,
– Fee, Levy and Security Regulation,
– Oil and Gas Activities General Regulation
– Prescribed Roads Regulation

7. BC Water& Waste Association
Regulatory Overview BC Cont.
• The Oil & Gas Commission is an independent regulator that provides a
single window for exploration, development, pipelines, and
reclamation. The Commission regulates all oil and gas activities in BC
including:
– Geophysical exploration,
– Wells and wellsite facilities,
– Pipeline systems,
– Gas processing plants, and
– Liquefied natural gas plants.

8. BC Water& Waste Association
Hydraulic Fracturing Activity in
BC

9. BC Water& Waste Association
Treatment Type
Source: BC Ministry
of Energy and Mines

10. BC Water& Waste Association
Water Use in Hydraulic
Fracturing
• The HRB is in the Muskwa formation and is siliceous shale and responds
well to slick-water fracs.
– Typical water use is 2500 to 5000 cubic meters of water per frac
– 12 to 21 fracs per well in this formation.
– Approximately 200 to 300 tonnes of sand
– 30,000 to 105,000 cubic meters of water per well.
• The Montney Trend is in the Montney formation and is tight siltstone
shale. This formation responds well to energized fracs utilizing N2 and
CO2.
– Typical water use is 200 to 600 cubic meters of water per frac
– 6 to 12 fracs per well in this formation.
– Approximately 40 to 100 tonnes of sand
– 1,200 to 7,200 cubic meters of water per well.

11. BC Water& Waste Association
Water Use in Hydraulic
Fracturing
• The Deep Basin is in the Cadomin Formation
and is a sandstone and conglomerate. This
formation responds well to slick-water fracs.
– Typical water use is 1000 to 4000 cubic meters
of water per frac
– 5 to 15 fracs per well in this formation.
– Approximately 50 tonnes of sand are also used
per frac.
– 5,000 to 60,000 cubic meters of water

12. BC Water& Waste Association
Water Use in Hydraulic
Fracturing
• The sources of water are distributed as
follows:
– freshwater (lakes, streams, rivers, and dugouts)
– 60%,
– shallow groundwater - unconfined or confined
aquifers (typically fresh water) – 10%,
– deep groundwater (typically saline and may
require treatment) – 10%, and
– flowback fluid (saline and requires treatment) –
20%

13. BC Water& Waste Association
Total Water Use
• Total water use approved in 2011 was 12,000,000 m3 of
water.
• Only 10% of this volume was actually used and the largest
approved use was in the East Kiskatinaw and represented
about 0.130% of actual runoff for the East Kiskatinaw.
• Annual runoff in the Montney play area is 16.8 billion m3.
• The projected maximum water requirement for hydraulic
fracturing in Montney play is 5-10 million m3 per year.
Approximately 2/3 is projected to be from surface sources.
• This represents about 0.03 percent of average annual
runoff.

14. BC Water& Waste Association
Water Re-Use and Disposal
• There are many challenges to treating and reusing flowback
water:
– Natural gas dissolved in the water can be an explosion
hazard;
– There is great variability in chemical composition making
treatment complex and difficult to do with one process;
– High Biological Oxygen Demand wastewater may need
to be treated using a biological process;
– Sulfate can be reduced to hydrogen sulfide in an
anaerobic environment creating a hazard; and
– Disposal and removal of left over solids after treatment
is another waste stream that needs to be addressed.

15. BC Water& Waste Association
Recommendations and Next
Steps for BC
• 17 recommendations and next steps outlined
• Water issues
• Climate change issues
• Deep well injection issues
• Seismic activity questions
• Coordinated regulatory approach
• Additives and fluid transport
• Alternate water sources
• Cumulative impacts and
• Knowledge sharing

16. Safeguarding public health and the environment
through the sharing of skills, knowledge, education and experience,
and providing a voice for the water and waste community.
www.bcwwa.org
Questions?