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maintenance is a little bit more difficult to
calculate, since it is impossible to predict
when each well will begin needing the maintenance
water. It can vary from one to five
years before a well will need it. But once a
well has reached this stage, each one needs
approximately 15 barrels of water per day.
Finally, produced water is used and recycled
for a number of purposes. Currently, the
excess water high in salt content can be recycled
for some uses, but fresh water is the more
valued resource in oil production. However,
the North Dakota Department of Mineral
Resources is working with industry experts,
scientists and oil companies to find a way to
put the salty water to better use. Recycled water
can increase the supply exponentially, as
they develop more ways to use it.
Wells by the numbers
Other measures that must be taken into
account include how many wells currently
call the Bakken region home, and how many
more have yet to take root. Lynn Helms,
Director of the Department of Mineral Resources,
said those numbers are “driven by
estimates of how many wells will be drilled
each year.” Currently, he says, we’re looking
at numbers close to 2,000 new wells
per year for the next 25 years. “CEOs have
drilling inventories already in place for the
next 17 to 37 years,” says Helms.
Using these approximations for their
calculations, the Department of Mineral
“They have created projections based on the age
of all the wells over the next 25 years and found
that the need for water, though already high
today, will only continue to surge.
Resources is preparing for the future water
needs by counting everything. Using these
informed estimates, here is the breakdown,
by the numbers:
• There are currently about 7,000 producing
wells in the Bakken that need
maintenance water;
• They each need 15 barrels of water per
day to maintain production;
• In the next 25 years, the number of
producing wells in the Bakken will
grow to 65,000; and
• Every year, those wells age, and that
means that more and more wells need
maintenance water in order to keep
working.
No need to get your calculators out.
The Department of Mineral Resources has
done the math for us. They have created
projections based on the age of all the wells
over the next 25 years and found that the
need for water, though already high today,
will only continue to surge. The number
they have come up with?
“Twenty-two-million gallons of water
per day,” says Helms. “Maintenance water
will actually grow to exceed the amount of
water needed for fracking. In six to seven
years—yes, possibly that soon—demand
may exceed what we can supply.”
Good old tap water
So far, this only discusses water which
supports the oil industry. But it also supports
the people working in the field, their
families and citizens living near the Bakken
region. Where does their clean drinking
water come from?
“The drinking water infrastructure is
currently inadequate to meet future needs,”
says Andrea Boe, business development director
at Advanced Engineering and Environmental
Services, or more simply, AE 2 S.
AE 2 S works on general civil, electrical
and structural engineering, as well as surveying
and construction, but their primary
specialty is water systems.
Their focus now is on the Western Area
Water Supply Project (WAWSP), which aims
to improve and expand on the water system
that serves the northwest region of North
Dakota.
Just as water data is being tracked for
the oil industry’s perspective, more numbers
are available to analyze the water
needs of the North Dakota population.
“Most drinking water systems are built
to serve a peak population projection of
25-30 years,” explains Boe. But the Bakken
area experienced a population boom,
which dramatically affected the drinking
water systems.
“The WAWSP, in the heart of the Bakken,
was first envisioned to serve a peak
population of 48,000 in 2011. Fast forward
two years, and the actual population
in the service area was already at 58,000,”
says Boe.
And that growth shows no signs of
stopping. A 2012 North Dakota Statewide
Housing Needs Assessment projects the
total population in the WAWSP service
area to reach almost 100,000 people.
Trying not to waste
water
Yet another obstacle to overcome is
what to do with the wastewater. The city
of Williston has submitted a proposal to
replace its existing wastewater treatment
facility, which is located on Corps-managed
federal land, to a site immediately
adjacent to the existing facility on land
owned by the city of Williston.
A press release from the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers explains that “the purpose
of the proposed project is to meet the
wastewater treatment needs of Williston’s
growing population because the existing facility
does not have the capacity to do so.”
As for industrial wastewater, Boe says
that “there is an increasing movement to
recycle those types of waste streams to reduce
the use of fresh water. However, there
are some current hurdles to widespread recycling
in the Bakken.”
Those hurdles include the high cost, the
need to then dispose of a waste stream produced
by the recycling method, and the detrimental
effect that some recycled water can
have on oil-producing wells. Water is a highly
lucrative resource, so many private technology
firms are working to find ways to provide water
and to reduce the amount of waste.
64 The Official Publication of the North Dakota Association of Oil & Gas Producing Counties