June 18, 2021

Rising Earthquakes Leading to Greater Scrutiny of SWD; Reuse Option is Limited

Rising Earthquakes Leading to Greater Scrutiny of SWD; Reuse Option is Limited

June 18, 2021

The first article below, “Treating the US Oil Industry’s Dark Water: As Earthquakes Increase, Billions Needed to Switch Course”, details increasing earthquakes and other negative environmental impacts as reasons to “switch course”, specifically calling for more reuse of wastewater.  The second article, “Challenges in Reusing Produced Water” details the high cost of this treatment for most end uses.  Reuse is inherently limited to the extent that contaminants are usually not destroyed, but become more concentrated as good water is separated from toxic water, and the more contaminated the residual water becomes, the more expensive to treat.  On the other hand, reuse is benefitting from continually rising freshwater prices in some very water stressed areas.  ECOVAP is uniquely able to provide low cost disposal for any produced water waste stream up to 200k ppm, avoiding all of the environmental impacts of SWD’s (earthquakes, trucking/CO2, pressurized energy consumption and aquifer contamination).

Articles:

Treating the US oil industry’s dark water: As earthquakes increase, billions needed to switch course

Challenges in Reusing Produced Water

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