QGC - enough CSG water to meet Toowoomba's demand for 20 years ...
Excerpt from QGC advertisement, the Chronicle, 4 July 2008:
If we can provide water to Miles ... we can provide it to a town near you.
The water extracted by Queensland Gas Company from the coal seams in the Surat Basin is plentiful.
It is precious and at just one-tenth the salinity of sea water, it is far too good to let go to waste in evaporation ponds while our Surat Basin neighbours are experiencing severe drought.
That is why QGC is on the front foot, searching for sustainable ways to put this water to beneficial use in Queensland.
We are negotiating agreements to supply half a billion litres a year to the township of Miles. Right now, we have the capacity to produce 16 megalites of water a day - enough to fill 16 Olympic-sized swimming pools a day, every day of the year.
This is just the beginning.
As QGC gears up to supply gas to the Queensland Curtis LNG Project, we will be able to offer a lot more water - enough, we believe, to meet Toowoomba's total annual demand for at least 20 years.
QGC is working hard to stimulate public debate about the water. The debate should be based on fact and ensure stakeholders - residents, farmers, governments and gas producers - have a say. We remain committed to achieving positive outcomes so that the water from our world-class gasfields benefits those communities that need it most.
Because we are proud of our water and its vast potential, it is important to us that you rely on the facts to reach your own conclusion. There have been claims that the proposed coal seam gas developments will result in 50,000 hectares of evaporation ponds, millions of tonnes of salts and barren wastelands. There have been claims that the water extraction will have long-term ramifications on the groundwater aquifers. It has also been claimed that cattle cannot drink water with more than 2,000 parts per million (ppm) of salt.
Here are the facts:
QGC currently has about 190 hectares of ponds. We design and monitor the ponds carefully to ensure their integrity. We do not see the ponds as long-term solutions - but in the meantime we are sponsoring research by the University of Queensland to achieve leading-edge outcomes in pond design and rehabilitation.
QGC accepts responsibility for managing the salts in an environmentally sensible way. There will not be millions of tonnes, and we are investigating ways to harvest the salts as another valuable by-product, adding more value to the water. The water in QGC's gasfields is produced from the porosity in the coals, meaning that the extraction of the water has no impact on underground aquifers.
Finally, official Australian guidelines recommend that drinking water for cattle can contain up to 5,000 ppm. This is more than double the QGC average.
At QGC, we understand that there is still a lot of work to do - and more money to be spent - before the full potential of the precious water from the coal seams is realised.
Be sure of one thing - we will continue to look for the most sustainable solutions.
Richard Cottee
Managing Director
Queensland Gas Company
end.
posted by Concerned Ratepayer at 11:29 AM
1 Comments:
There are a number of facts and drivers that can potentially make the QGC generated CBM water as the most suitable source of potable water supply to rural communities in the Queensland as well as for regional agricultural and other industrial uses.
First the facts:
Direct measurement of dissolved bicarbonate ion (HCO3) in water is commonly missing from most of the older reported chemical analysis of CBM and coal mine waters in Australia. The same applies to ground waters from the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) which have a similar chemical signatures. Years of uncontrolled discharge of GAB water has resulted in significant landscape damage. I find similar shortcoming with the CBM waters in the Powder River Basin of the U.S. I mention these because bicarbonate alkalinity of CBM and coal mine waters can reach values in excess of half the value of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in these water types. Other major chemical constituents are invariably sodium and chloride ions. In essence, we are dealing with alkaline-saline groundwaters that once brought to surface and stored in evaporation ponds (or discharged to surface drainage) will loose part of their bicarbonate ion by releasing CO2 gas to the atmosphere. And, as we all know, such waters if applied directly to soils will result in sodicity and severe land degradation problems. In fact, the whitish slurry formed in early stages of storing the CBM or coal mine waters in the evaporation basins is largely a calcium carbonate mineral rather than a sodium chloride salt as commonly thought. So, the consequences of current practices of managing the coal mine and CBM waters through pond storage or discharge to surface drainage are not confined to adverse impacts on the landscape, soils or receiving waters but there is also the issue of CO2 release to atmosphere. This is a largely untold fact that will need careful consideration by the stakeholders, as it is expected that the potential liabilities (including CO2 footprint) of the long-term storage of CBM and coal mine waters will eventually make this practice prohibitive (as we see it in the States). In the same context, having a CBM water with a TDS salinity lower than the salinity value given in the current water quality guidelines does not necessarily mean that it is safe for stock and/or agricultural use.
The outcomes of extensive research undertaken in the U.S. on the beneficial uses of CBM waters clearly indicate that beyond certain TDS salinity and bicarbonate alkalinity such waters will need treatment before any specific or general use. Proven technologies are available for treating and making such waters usable; additionally, innovative technologies are now offered for integrated recovery of water and valuable mineral byproducts for achieving zero discharge.
The drivers of beneficial use of CBM waters in Queensland are many; further, most of these drivers are timely and worth of follow up. Foremost is the size (volume) of water resource which is bound to grow substantially in the coming years as the CBM industry in Queensland gears up to commence supplying LNG to global markets. The resource size is critically important as it will enable the Queensland government, QGC and operators to establish a sustainable source of water supply, which will be hopefully based on the actual life-cycle cost of water production and distribution to regional communities. This approach will be the only way to establish a "realistic" value for this "new water" away from emotional and self-serving arguments.
Another driver is Queensland Government and QGC’s determination to undertake a systematic assessment of all options before identifying a roadmap and implementing the most appropriate option for the good of communities and the Environment, alike. I am pleased to read recent announcements by the Queensland Premier and QGC management both confirming their commitments and desire to work together. There is in fact a unique opportunity for the Queenslanders to lead the way towards changing the old paradigm from storage/disposal of CBM water to its use as a valuable resource.
7:38 PM, July 12, 2008
Post a Comment
<< Home