1 / 19

NSW IRRIGATORS’ COUNCIL

NSW IRRIGATORS’ COUNCIL. Finding a Way for Agriculture and CSG to Co-Exist: Colorado, USA. Introduction. NSW Irrigators Council represents around 12,000 irrigation license holders across New South Wales. We represent: Membership Groups; and Water Access License Holders. Why Colorado?.

milos
Download Presentation

NSW IRRIGATORS’ COUNCIL

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. NSW IRRIGATORS’ COUNCIL Finding a Way for Agriculture and CSG to Co-Exist: Colorado, USA

  2. Introduction NSW Irrigators Council represents around 12,000 irrigation license holders across New South Wales. We represent: • Membership Groups; and • Water Access License Holders

  3. Why Colorado? An increasingly polarised debate in Australia. Relatively few global instances of co-location. An organisation (NSWIC) that recognises this industry is coming. A need for better information

  4. What to Achieve? We want to understand alternatives to our current regulatory regime and to understand various parties views on those alternatives. Importantly, we're not seeking to judge alternative approaches nor necessarily to adopt them. We're looking for opportunities to uncover alternative strategies and - ideally - methodologies to enhance harmonious development of irrigation and gas industries.

  5. A Tour Group NSWIC Cotton Australia – Sahil Prasad Namoi Water – Jon-Maree Baker APPEA – Siobhan Barry Santos – Andrew Abbey and Deena McMullen

  6. Denver, CO Dick Wolfe, State Engineer and Director of Division of Water Resources (Vance case brought his role to forefront of gas regulation) Key message – BASELINE DATA.

  7. Denver, CO Pioneer Resources Outsourced water management (Norwest) Make all data public - www.purgatoirewatershed.org Long history in CO (18 years in Raton Field – 2250 wells) Key message – Transparency.

  8. Fort Collins, CO Prof. Troy Bauder – Soil and Crop Sciences at CSU Large body of work on produced water. Sodium Adsorbtion Ratio is a key – concentration in soils. Admittedly looked at both best and worst case scenarios. Key message – don’t get it wrong in the first place.

  9. Weld County, CO The Commissioners of Weld County Over 100k acres irrigation – overlying conventional gas. A largely dry field, but low quality produced water and competition for production water. Most of them were happy – due to a financial stake, either direct or to Country resources. Key message – give the locals an interest.

  10. Weld v Larimer, CO A Tale of Two Counties Weld is used to agricultural industry and processing. Larimer is largely residential. Weld is accepting gas more readily than Larimer... Key message – engage farmers on practical issues.

  11. Southern CO Previously large scale coal mining and processing. Coal seams still visible on the surface. Large scale CBM development over nearly 20 years. Irrigation is small (8,000 feet) but area is watershed. Significant produced water of varying quality.

  12. Trinidad CO Norwest Corporation – for Pioneer Resources. “Don’t irrigate with produced water” – site discharge points for dilution before offtake. Dropping around 11 megs per day into surface discharge – but mainly dry arroyos. Key message – BASELINE DATA.

  13. Raton Basin CO Inspecting the Wells. Surface storage of produced water. Deep aquifer reinjection (6,000 feet) – set up but not used. Water quality testing downstream... Key message – Produced Water Management.

  14. Findings The short term problems are relative Acceptance is comparatively simpler with farmers given simple practicality. Financial benefits in CO are assisting acceptance – and providing insurance.

  15. Findings The long terms risks are significant If you get the water management wrong, the impacts can be catastrophic. It’s a low likelihood – high impact scenario.

  16. Findings Some Problems can be Managed We must have comprehensive baseline data. We must deal more effectively with produced water.

  17. Conclusion Is Coexistence Possible? We didn’t find the comprehensive solution to coexistence. We did find two preconditions without which coexistence cannot occur.

  18. Read all about it... Available as an e-book via Amazon

  19. Q and A Questions and Discussion

More Related