Groundwater Quality In the Vicinity of Oil and Gas Development in the Denver-Julesburg Basin

Presented on Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Joseph Ryan1, Jessica Dehart1, Kyra Reumann-Moore2 and Stephen Osborn3, (1)Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, (2)University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, (3)Geological Sciences, California State Polytechnic University Pomona, Pomona, CA

We reviewed water quality data made available by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for water wells in the Denver-Julesburg Basin in northeastern Colorado as a function of proximity to oil and gas wells. The likelihood of elevated concentrations of methane and certain inorganic constituents increased with proximity to oil and gas wells. Based on carbon-13 isotope abundance in the methane, the methane in water wells was mostly biogenic, not thermogenic. Based on the available data, the occurrence of water well contamination associated with oil and gas development is infrequent.

Slides

Joseph Ryan
Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO
Joseph Ryan is a professor in environmental engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder and the faculty director of the National Science Foundation-funded AirWaterGas Sustainability Research Network.
Jessica Dehart
Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO
Jessica Dehart is a graduate research assistant in environmental engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is studying the fate and transport of organic compounds used in hydraulic fracturing fluids.
Kyra Reumann-Moore
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Kyra Reumann-Moore was an undergraduate research assistant in environmental engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder as part of a National Science Foundation-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates program.
Stephen Osborn
Geological Sciences, California State Polytechnic University Pomona, Pomona, CA
Stephen Osborn is an assistant professor of geological sciences at the California State Polytechnic University at Pomona and a research participant in the National Science Foundation-funded AirWaterGas Sustainability Research Network.
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