(GP/GT) for Additional Water Supply in the Lower Rio Grande

FINAL REPORT ON
TEXAS WATER DEVELOPMENT BOARD RESEARCH CONTRACT NO. 93-383-473
APPROVED JUNE 17, 1993
INVESI1GATlON OF THE GEOPRESSURED/GEOTHERMAL WATER RESOURCE
IN THE LOWER RIO GRANDE V ALLEY OF TEXAS
EXEC1ITIVE SUMMARY
A. INTRODUCTION
The existence of a series of sizeable reservoirs of hot, pressurized, salty waters underneath the
Counties of Hidalgo, Cameron and (to a much lesser extent) Willacy in the Lower Rio Grande
Valley (LRGV) of Texas had been estimated in general terms ever since the mid-Seventies.
Preliminary studies by the Alternate Energy Department of the University of Texas - Austin had
shown the likelihood of these reservoirs at depths estimated at from 8,000 to 15,000 feet
underground and had attempted some initial measures of temperature, pressure, salinity and
quantities.
The U.S. Department of Energy had also funded some research into these
Geopressured/Geothermai (GP/GT) resources along the Western Louisiana and Upper Southeast
Texas Coasts, beginning in 1976. These attempts were considered significant enough to warrant
the formation of a Joint GovemmentlIndustry GP/GT Consortium for Commercialization of these
resources in 1990.
Thus, a fairly large body of initial work had established the existence and major features of these
waters. It was felt important to investigate the potentials for the utilization of these deep GP/GT
waters, both as a source of heat for the desalination of shallow, brackish waters that underlie
much of the LRGV as well as for the resources that they contained. These included dissolved
natural gas, the pressures that could be harnessed for electrical power production and, eventually,
the considerable quantities of water that could constitute a vital alternate and independent water
supply.
In the particular case of the occurrences of both the shallow, brackish ground waters as well as
the deep GP/GT waters underneath the LRGV, a group operating as Kleber J. Denny, Inc.,
decided to take the lead in approaching the Texas Water Development board (fWDB) with an
Unsolicited Proposal for an Investigation into the Utilization of the GP/GT Resource as an
Alternative Source of Water and Energy for the LRGV. This decision has been very timely in
light of the following developments: