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Permalink Reply by sesport on July 13, 2010 at 9:05

Ohhhh, Sharon - Did that guy, or any of the companies involved, ever get any BASELINE DATA before drilling began?

See, years ago my daddy kept horses on some property in N. Bossier down by the Red River, we used well water for the water troughs there. It stunk to high heaven of sulfur, but I don't remember any of the horses falling over dead from drinking it, nor any of us. We just had to hold our noses if we got really hot & thirsty, but I'm still here, healthy as a horse, these some 20+ years later.

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Permalink Reply by drilltheshale on July 13, 2010 at 10:05

From a prior life working regulating drinking water, hydrogen sulfide was a very common, low-level NATURAL contaminant of ground water drinking supplies all over Louisiana. It is foul at very low levels and was the most common source of drinking water complaints in LA at that time. Not dangerous at those very low levels but could be really rotten egg.

Also remember well a rural water supply near Pelican, LA where the water supply operator showed me how he could light the tap by the water wellhead (NATURAL natural gas there (don't tell the Gasland folks).

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Permalink Reply by DB in Bienville Parish on September 23, 2010 at 14:46

I know of an artesian well in Winn parish at the Drake salt works near Goldonna that can be lit due to Natural gas "naturally" occuring in the aquifer. This has been happening since around the war between the states and before there was natural gas or oil drilling in the area.

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Permalink Reply by P.G. on July 10, 2010 at 4:59

Do drillers add salt or is salt natural occuring?

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Permalink Reply by Les Bamburg on July 10, 2010 at 6:32

PG, salt is naturally occurring. Different producing formations have different levels of salinity in the produced formation water.

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Permalink Reply by Amigo 2 on November 14, 2010 at 18:41

Is the salt bad or good? Would they need to close a well because of striking salt?

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Permalink Reply by sesport on November 15, 2010 at 16:57

Amigo 2 - The salinity in & of itself probably isn't as much an issue as what else comes up with it and in what concentrations.

http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/tenorm/oilandgas.html


The briney solution contained in reservoirs of oil and gas is known as "formation water." During drilling, a mixture of oil, gas, and formation water is pumped to the surface. The water is separated from the oil and gas into tanks or pits, where it is referred to as "produced water." As the oil and gas in the reservoir are removed, more of what is pumped to the surface is formation water. Consequently, declining oil fields generate more produced water.

While uranium and thorium are are not soluble in water, their radioactive decay product, radium, and some of its decay products are somewhat soluble. Radium and its decay products may dissolve in the brine. They may remain in solution or settle out to form sludges, which accumulate in tanks and pits, or mineral scales, which form inside pipes and drilling equipment.

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Permalink Reply by Mac Davis on November 15, 2010 at 21:17

"Do drillers add salt or is salt natural occuring?"

Most or all underground (or aboveground) water contains some salt. The amount of salt in the water varies greatly, from good drinking quality to undrinkable. Pumping the water from an aquifer may cause the amount of salt to change as you pump out the water from a good aquifer, and water from another aquifer flows in to fill the empty space. It would seem likely that drilling operations of any kind could theoretically allow water from a salty aquifer to contaminate a good aquifer if done incorrectly.

There's some salt, but not much, added in frac fluid. There may be some companies using salt water in frac fluid instead of fresh water, but I'm not sure. Oil or gas wells often produce salt water along with the oil or gas.

O&G companies are supposed to dispose of salt water properly. That's what all those weird looking salt water tank trucks driving the back roads trying to run down innocent motorists and small children are carrying. They usually dispose of the salt water by injecting it back underground into a formation where it, in theory, won't contaminate drinking water, or dump it into the ocean at an appropriate place.

By the way, "salt" water from a well is often much more than salt. It's water with salt and whatever other undesired material comes up mixed with the water. Plus probably some oil or liquid gas condensates. I suspect that any water from an O&G well gets treated as "salt" water, even if it doesn't have much salt in it.

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Permalink Reply by little ole 1st grade teacher on July 10, 2010 at 7:59

I would be extremely worried about living with something like this.
There was an incident northwest of Houston (Bellviille, near Brenham) about 20 years ago where there was an explosion of an area because of a leak in a pipe near a highway. People had smelled the gas and did not know where it was coming from. Early one morning around 7 a.m. a car was driving by and evidently a spark from the engine of the car ignited the gas. Several people were killed and others were burned very badly. When the explosion happened, we felt (have foundation problems in the area, walls separating, etc.) it in Northwest Houston....very scary even for us. I know that we're talking about a pipe in the above incident, but there's still a possibility, I would think, for this "gaseous water" to affect water heaters, outside faucets,etc,, where a spark could come from anywhere (someone smoking, cell phone, house phone, light being turned on, etc.) and cause an explosion. My feeling is: this is just too dangerous and an accident waiting to happen. I'd be finding me a place to move to.

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Permalink Reply by Les Bamburg on July 10, 2010 at 9:54

LOFGT, the incident you described (Brenham LPG Storage) was a completely different situation. This was a case of propane that is injected and stored in an underground salt cavern. The surface facilities malfunctioned resulting in a release of the propane gas. Since that incident, regulations for cavern storage were revised resulting in a vast improvement in the safety of such operations.

Please note that propane is of a similar density as air and tends to form ground-hugging clouds rather than dissipating. Natural gas is lighter than air and will dissipate rapidly. Most issues concerning natural gas are related to leaks in natural gas distribution systems rather than gas in water systems. The gas in the water in the story may be naturally occurring or related to a old leaky well nearby. I will note the fire instances shown in Gasland were from naturally occuring methane gas and were unrelated to O&G operations.

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Permalink Reply by Amigo 2 on September 23, 2010 at 11:54

Well, I got it changed. Am I not getting smarter on my first try. Wish it would happen in other areas.

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Permalink Reply by Amigo 2 on September 23, 2010 at 11:50

I am trying to see how you get this memo--not sure what my code name is . Call me and let me know. Move North.

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