From E&E Publishing (Tasha Eichenseher):
In what many are calling the first attempt to document how much water is required for hydraulic fracturing in the Centennial State, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) released a fact sheet late last month that projected a 35 percent increase from 2010 to 2015 in water use for oil and gas exploration and production. Water demand for hydraulic fracturing in the state is expected to increase from roughly 4.5 billion gallons in 2010 to more than 6 billion gallons in 2015, a jump that could supply more than 160,000 people with domestic water for a year…
The amount of water used depends on the geology of the region and whether wells are drilled horizontally or vertically, according to the COGCC. Horizontal wells require more, as do shale formations located deep underground. COGCC estimates that between 2010 and 2015, barring any major economic, environmental or technological changes, the number of active oil and gas wells in Colorado is likely to remain steady, with much of the expected 1.5-billion-gallon increase in water use linked to an expected swing from vertical oil drilling to new horizontal technologies…
Jon Monson, director of the water and sewer department in Greeley — the Weld County seat — said citizens have expressed concern about the tanker truck water withdrawals. But Greeley, like many Colorado cities, has accumulated surplus water rights over time in an effort to meet its long-term needs and stave off the potential impacts of a temporary shortage. Last year was an “epic water year,” he said, leaving the city plenty of extra to sell. “Once you start explaining it is an annual surplus, and we are not committing to these people long-term,” there is a bit of an attitude change, he said. Last year, Greeley leased $1.5 million worth of water, or around 326 million gallons, primarily to oil and gas companies, as well as almost 9.8 billion gallons to neighboring farms. But the city makes more from the oil and gas deals because the water it sells to those operations is treated and therefore more expensive, according to Monson. The water surplus “can make money for the citizens of Greeley,” he pointed out…
According to COGCC numbers, hydraulic fracturing represented just 0.08 percent of all water used in Colorado in 2010. Hydraulic fracturing used less water than agriculture, municipalities, industry, recreation or thermoelectric power generation. The biggest user of water in Colorado, and the United States in general, is agriculture, usually accounting for up to 70 percent of water consumption. According to the COGCC, farming, ranching and other agricultural operations accounted for more than 4.6 trillion gallons, or 85.5 percent, of Colorado water use in 2010. Municipal and industrial uses combined accounted for about 397 billion gallons, or 7.4 percent.