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<br />14. Meeker Dome Unit (Reclamation) <br /> <br />Meeker Dome, the site of several abandoned oil and gas exploratory <br />wells, is a local anticlinal uplift in northwestern Colorado, 3 miles east of <br />the town of Meeker and on the right bank of the White River. The Meeker Well, <br />originally drilled for oil exploration purposes and abandoned in the 1920's, <br />~ was identified as a significant point source of salinity in the Colorado River <br />00 system. Before the well was pl~gged to depth below 550 feet in 1968, it was <br />~ . flowing at a rate of about 3 ft Is, and its highly saline water--19,200 <br />u., mgjL--was increasing the salt load of the Colorado River by about 57,000 tons <br />per year. <br /> <br />In February 1969, two abandoned wells 2 miles north of the Meeker <br />Well also were reported to be flowing saline water and were plugged 8 months <br />later. Further seepage appeared in the same year in four areas within a mile <br />radius of the plugged Meeker Well in the same year. <br /> <br />Feasibility investigations were initiated in early 1979 by the <br />organization of a multidisciplinary planning team of interested local, state, <br />and Federal agencies, as well as special interest groups and private citizens. <br /> <br />These investigations were designed to gain a better understanding of <br />the quantity, sources, and mechanisms by which saline water enters the White <br />River and then to identify alternatives that would eliminate or greatly reduce <br />the salt contribution to the river. <br /> <br />Technical investigations conducted through a professional services <br />contract with CH2M Hill, a water resources consulting firm, indicated that <br />seepage was contlnuing and that variable loads of salt were being transmitted <br />into the White River and, subsequently, into the Colorado River. Th~ loading <br />estimate for 1979 approximated 27,000 tons at a flow of about 1.4 ft Is and a <br />concentration of 19,000 mgjL. <br /> <br />Problem identification investigations indicated that of the eight <br />oil and gas exploratory wells drilled on the Dome, four were adequately <br />plugged. The other four--James, Marland, Meeker, and Scott Wells--were <br />believed to be unoluqqed or inadequately pluqqed and actinq as conduits <br />allowing saline water-from deep geological formations to flow through <br />shallower ground water aquifers and pollute surface waters of the White River. <br />To verify this belief, a program was initiated to clean, test, and plug the <br />James, Marland, Meeker, and Scott Wells. A network of observation wells and <br />seep measurement stations were installed to monitor the effects of the <br />verification program. <br /> <br />The bores of the James and Scott Wells were cleaned, tested, and <br />successfully plugged. Major difficulties were encountered with the Marland <br />Well. An adjacent intercept hole was drilled and used to plug it by using <br />pressure cementing from the intercept hole. This was apparently successful in <br />stopping the last source of seepage from the dome and eliminating the need for <br />replugging the Meeker Well. <br /> <br />Ground water levels in observation wells and flows from saline <br />springs have decreased significantly from the conditions existing at the time <br />of the verification well plugging. This information appears to confirm the <br />hypothesis that the wells acted as conduits for saline water. In September <br />1984, salt loading from the dome had decreased by 19,000 tons per year from <br /> <br />VII-23 <br />