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Piceance 1 of <br />San Juan (near Durango) 250 of <br />Raton (near Trinidad) 2.500 of <br />The Piceance Basin is overlain by Ureen Riser Shales and is a eery tight formation with little <br />water. The San Juan and Raton basins are not a tightly compacted and in Raton the CBM <br />beds are closer to the surface, and more ~~- ater must be removed to release CBM. Future <br />depletions in the Piceance Basin are unknown since there isn't currently a lot of interest in <br />CBM development in the Piceance Basin <br />e. For Future Studti Peter Bachmann would like to shu1~~ ~yhat non-tributal-~~ ground«,°ater is in <br />the Colorado River Basin. Much of the groundwater in the southern and western edges of the <br />Piceance Basin is located in non-tributal-~- basins. <br />8. Water Quality Impacts of Natural Gay Drilling in Garfield County. Mark Levorson, the <br />Principal H~~drogeologist ~yith URS, discussed Managing Rural Water Qualit~~ in Areas of <br />Energy Development His talk focused on natural gas drilling in Uarfield County. <br />Drilling in Mamm Creek and West Divide Creek has the potential to release plumes of highlti~ <br />saline water that can migrate to the Colorado River. <br />a. Mark Levorson. URS Corporation. 8181 East Tufts Avenue. Deny-er. CO 80237, 303-796- <br />4767. marls_leyorsolv~i~urscorp.com. <br />b. Water quality has been impacted in the West Di~~ide Creel: anticline and the Mamm <br />Creel: gas fields. High1~ saline water has migrated to Iiesh water wells, rendering some un- <br />potable. Fines levied against EnCana and other drillers paid for Levorson's study. Phase 1 <br />paid for the stud~~: phase 2 is to contact owners of affected wells to sample their water <br />quality. Phase 2 has not been done. Uarfield County Health Department does not believe it <br />is their responsibility, and the industry is reluctant to contact yell owners. Well owners <br />should ?????? <br />c. Groundwater initially stalts as rain ~~,°ater and snow that percolates down. picking up salts and <br />eventually residing in beds as ground~~,°ater. When vertical and directionally drilled wells <br />descend tluough vertical Iiach~res, saline groundwater can then migrate upward into potable <br />aquifers and contaminate wells. It is usualh~ a slow process. <br />The Mamm Creek area has more ~~ertical fractures than most shales in the region, and <br />they are encountered in about 1 % to 5% of the wells drilled. When one is discovered. the <br />driller should stop and pack the area around the vertical fracture before proceeding. The <br />Colorado Oil and Uas Conservation Commission now requires that oI>Iv one well be drilled <br />at a time in the area around East Mamm Creek, due to the high concentration of sodium- <br />sulfate water. Natural gas well bore holes are helping deeper saline water to mig ate up into <br />Iiesh «,°ater aquifers. <br />e. Fraccing, or fracturing, is a process in which a mixture of water, chemicals and grit is forced <br />horizontally into nah~ral gas bearing beds under high pressure up to ?0,000 psi. When the <br />~yater recedes the grit leases gaps bettyeen shale lavers that permit natural gas to migrate to <br />Deleted: Z.`.Tuu Polsan~lt c 1 nado <br />the Ayell. The hOrlZOnta1 IraCtllleS telld t0 eStelld ~~~~-c~00 Ieet OUt Iroln the Ayell, and are i Ba,mRoundtable ('BRT`~lxlb'00~- <br />done at depths ranging bettyeen 7,000 and 10,000 feet deep. Levorson does not believe that ,~ o~n-Tu~~~re~ rep ~ooa cBxT a~~ <br />~ Deleted: ~ ~3'oos <br />,~ <br />~~ - <br />I:LiterbaauiCompaotCanuiutteaBasuiRoundtnble9ColotadoI~liuateal~IumteuFeh3008CBRT.doh 3 i~ ~~I( ~ <br />