Water Demand of the Energy Industry in Texas and Impact on Aquifers

Texas energy mineral resources include coal, gas, oil, as well as uranium. They are all being produced in the State and they all require some water or water production. Some of the 10 or so large coal mines currently produce a total of 20 thousand acre-feet (AF) of water mostly from dewatering surficial aquifers and depressurizing of a prolific underlying aquifer. Oil and gas production from shales and from tight formations across the state through hydraulic fracturing of several thousands of horizontal and vertical wells required 45 thousand AF of water in 2010. Close to half of that amount came from groundwater stored in various aquifers around the state. The oil and gas industry also uses water for drilling and secondary and tertiary recovery (in West Texas). This water use amounts to approximately 21 thousand AF, to which can be added more than 8 thousand AF of water consumed to generate the proppant material used by hydraulic fracturing. Uranium is produced in South Texas, mostly through in-situ recovery, and recently consumed up to one thousand AF of water per year. Operators favor surface water when it is plentiful despite the piping sometimes required but groundwater is a more drought-proof source. The various segments of the energy industry are spread out across the State and thus impact many different aquifers. The Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer, extending from the Mexican border to the Louisiana state line, provides a significant fraction of the total water consumption for producing energy fuels. The aquifer has large resources but increased use by the energy industry combined with increased reliance on the aquifer of all other uses in times of drought can lead to local conflicts.