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KBH Energy Center | An Unlikely Partnership: Bringing Together Agricultural Producers and Energy Developers to Solve the Nation’s Looming Water Crisishttps://kbhenergycenter.utexas.edu/...likely-partnership-bringing-together-agricultural-producers-and-energy-developers-to-solve-the-nations-looming-water-crisis/[9/7/2016 5:19:59 PM]An Unlikely Partnership:Bringing TogetherAgricultural Producers andEnergy Developers toSolve the Nation’s LoomingWater Crisis𑠀 Romany Webb𑠀 March 14, 2016El Niño conditions, caused by a band of warm water in the PacificOcean off South America, have brought much needed rainfall tomany drought stricken parts of the country. According to theNational Drought Mitigation Center, the rain has led to a significantreduction in the national drought footprint, from 35 percent in mid-October to 14 percent in early March. The relief could, however, beshort-lived. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationpredicts that El Niño will weaken throughout spring, with a return toneutral conditions by early summer, and the possibility of a La Niñaevent in the fall. Such an event, which is generally associated withThe KBH Energy Center blog is aforum for faculty at The Universityof Texas at Austin, leadingpractitioners, lawmakers andother experts to contribute to thediscussion of vital law and policydebates in the areas of energy,environmental law, andinternational arbitration. Blogposts reflect the opinions of theauthors and not of The Universityof Texas at Austin or the KBHEnergy Center.Popular TagsTexas (66)water (49)energy (28)oil and gas (24)fracking (23)natural gas (23)   𑠀MENU𑠀KBH Energy Center | An Unlikely Partnership: Bringing Together Agricultural Producers and Energy Developers to Solve the Nation’s Looming Water Crisishttps://kbhenergycenter.utexas.edu/...likely-partnership-bringing-together-agricultural-producers-and-energy-developers-to-solve-the-nations-looming-water-crisis/[9/7/2016 5:19:59 PM]lower rainfall in the south and west, could have devastatingconsequences.Despite the recent rain, nearly 20 percent of the south and over 65percent of the west remains in drought. Some of the driest areas,including California and Texas, have disturbingly high water usage.Government data indicates that California and Texas use morewater than any other state, each withdrawing over 20 milliongallons of water per day, or 7.3 billion gallons per year. Water useis expected to rise in coming years, due to strong population growthand increasing economic activity, making supply and demandimbalances a very real possibility.In California, drought conditions have triggered a fierce debate over water use in agriculture and other industries. Following lastyear’s announcement of mandatory urban water restrictions, byCalifornia Governor Jerry Brown, many questioned why therestrictions did not apply to the agricultural industry, which iscurrently the state’s largest water user. More recently, asagricultural water use has increasingly been limited, focus hasshifted to other industries.Considerable scrutiny has recently been directed towards wateruse in the oil and gas sector, particularly for enhanced recoverytechniques such as water flooding. This technique is commonlyused to increase oil production, and involves the undergroundinjection of large volumes of water to displace oil from the porespaces in rock, and maintain underground pressure. It is especiallyuseful in areas with heavy, viscous oil such as the Kern Front OilField in the San Joaquin Valley in central California. That area hasseen significant oil development in recent years. At the same time,it has also continued to support much of the state’s agriculturalproduction, raising concerns that there won’t be enough water to goaround.Competition for water between agricultural producers and energydevelopers has also been an issue here in Texas. The growth ofhydraulic fracturing, wherein water (mixed with chemicals and aproppant) is injected underground at high pressure to fracture therock to release hydrocarbons, has led to the expansion of oil andgas activities into new areas previously dominated by agriculture.climate change (23)drought (18)greenhouse gas emissions (16)epa (13)endangered species (12)coal (12)Clean Air Act (10)groundwater (9)methane (9)KBH Energy Center | An Unlikely Partnership: Bringing Together Agricultural Producers and Energy Developers to Solve the Nation’s Looming Water Crisishttps://kbhenergycenter.utexas.edu/...likely-partnership-bringing-together-agricultural-producers-and-energy-developers-to-solve-the-nations-looming-water-crisis/[9/7/2016 5:19:59 PM]Many of these areas are prone to drought, leading to concerns thatthe oil and gas sector will take water needed by farmers. Allocatingwater between oil/gas and farming is seen as a “zero-sum” game,in that more water for one necessarily means less for the other.That may not, however, be the case. On the contrary, oil and gasdevelopment may actually result in increased water for agriculture.Oil and gas development produces significant amounts of water asa by-product. This so-called “produced water” varies in quality,depending on the nature of the rock formation and the method usedto extract oil and gas therefrom, among other factors. It often has ahigh salt content and may include other contaminants, such asarsenic, barium, calcium, chloride, lead, and magnesium. For thisreason, produced water is typically viewed as a waste anddisposed of, often through underground injection. However, withappropriate treatment, the water could be reused, including inagriculture.A report, published by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau ofReclamation, indicates that “[p]roduced water could be used toaugment conventional water supplies for use in irrigation andlivestock watering.” Prior to such use, the water may requiretreatment, to reduce its salt content. Research suggests that mostcrops do not tolerate high levels of salt and sustained irrigation withsalty water can damage soils. Similarly, livestock that ingest waterwith too high a salt content may develop health problems. Livestockcan, however, tolerate water of lesser quality than humans. Waterwith total dissolved solids (“TDS”) up to 10,000 milligrams per liter(mg/L) is suitable for most livestock, except poultry (which requireTDS less than 5,000 mg/L) and swine (which require TDS less than7,000 mg/L). (In comparison, the TDS of water intended for humanconsumption must not exceed 500 mg/L.)According to the Bureau of Reclamation, 18 percent of conventionaland 88 percent of unconventional oil and gas wells produce watercontaining under 10,000 mg/L TDS, the maximum acceptable forlivestock. Notably however, some produced water may containminor ions, including arsenic, boron, chromium, and lead, at levelsexceeding those considered safe for livestock. Such water willrequire treatment prior to re-use. The required treatment will vary,depending on the starting quality of the water, as well as theKBH Energy Center | An Unlikely Partnership: Bringing Together Agricultural Producers and Energy Developers to Solve the Nation’s Looming Water Crisishttps://kbhenergycenter.utexas.edu/...likely-partnership-bringing-together-agricultural-producers-and-energy-developers-to-solve-the-nations-looming-water-crisis/[9/7/2016 5:19:59 PM]desired level of purity. As livestock do not require highly pure water,treatment can often be performed using simple, inexpensiveprocesses.Given this, produced water may be a useful resource for theagricultural industry, particularly in drought-prone areas. This is notto say that re-using produced water for agriculture is without risks.Concerns have been raised about whether re-use may exposehumans to harmful constituents. Little is currently known about theextent to which different contaminants bio-accumulate in meat,eggs, and dairy products and what the human health impacts of thisare. Wisely then, produced water is not currently re-used forlivestock watering. With the looming water crisis, however, surely itis time we investigated the risks associated with re-use so that, if itis safe, full utilization can be made of this valuable resource.𑠀 agriculture 𑠀 California 𑠀 drought 𑠀 ElNiño 𑠀 La Niña 𑠀 livestock watering 𑠀 oil andgas 𑠀 Texas 𑠀 waterLeave a ReplyYour email address will not be published. Required fields aremarked *CommentName *Email *KBH Energy Center | An Unlikely Partnership: Bringing Together Agricultural Producers and Energy Developers to Solve the Nation’s Looming Water Crisishttps://kbhenergycenter.utexas.edu/...likely-partnership-bringing-together-agricultural-producers-and-energy-developers-to-solve-the-nations-looming-water-crisis/[9/7/2016 5:19:59 PM]WebsiteCopyright © The KBH Energy Center · University of Texas at Austin · School of Law · McCombs School of Business Privacy Policy · Web Accessibility

An Unlikely Partnership: Bringing Together Agricultural Producers and Energy Developers to Solve the Nation’s Looming Water Crisis

https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/2152/40276/2/2016_03_14_Partnership_Agricultural_Energy.pdf

An Unlikely Partnership: Bringing Together Agricultural Producers and Energy Developers to Solve the Nation’s Looming Water Crisis

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