On October 21, 2015, professors
within the Colorado State University’s Department of Civil & Environmental
Engineering released a study
entitled “Concurrence of aqueous and gas phase contamination of groundwater in
the Wattenberg oil and gas field of northern Colorado” published in the
Elsevier academic journal. The study examines the likelihood of groundwater
methane contamination resulting from unconventional oil and gas drilling in the
Denver-Julesburg Basin, Colorado.
The researchers
observed that gas and contaminants present in produced water are more likely to
migrate into drinking water wells due to improperly sealed wellbores or casing
impairment. They also analyzed the ionic composition of the Laramie-Fox Hills
aquifer underlying the shale basin before comparing both presence of
thermogenic methane and produced-water based contaminants into the aquifer.
Thermogenic methane is
defined as a gas “produced at greater depths through high pressure and temperature
processes, characteristic of deep oil and gas reservoirs that conventional and
unconventional hydrocarbon wells tap.”
The researchers
concluded that groundwater contamination is more likely to happen due to
thermogenic methane migration than it is to result from unconventional oil and
gas drilling. The study states that “[t]he results of these analyses indicate
no concurrent gas and liquid phase contamination of groundwater from oil and
gas activity.”
Written by Chloe Marie - Research Fellow
11/12/2015
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