U.S. Water News Online
GILLETTE, Wyo. -- The city's public works director said reinjecting coal bed methane groundwater into the Fort Union aquifer would help offset daily losses from the underground reservoir, which has dropped more than 300 feet in recent years.
The Wyoming Water Development Commission has recommended studying the possibility of putting water discharged from methane wells into the Fort Union aquifer, one of three sources for Gillette's drinking water. The quality would be monitored to determine if it can be used for drinking water.
The project, subject to rigorous state and federal regulation, could involve five to 25 wells producing 52,000 to 260,000 gallons of water per day.
Public Works Director Bill Carson said reinjection would benefit city residents and those in city improvement service districts, whose water systems also tap the Fort Union supply.
Mike Besson, director of the Water Development Commission, said that as Gillette's population grows, it won't be able to maintain its current mixture of water from its three sources -- the Fort Union sands, the Fox Hills sands, and the Madison limestone formation.
Blending the water allows the city to temper the hardness of water coming from the Madison formation.
Without more water in the Fort Union aquifer, blending could only be done on a limited basis, and while the water would still meet all federal and state standards, it would not be up to the quality people have become accustomed to, he said.
If approved by the 2002 Legislature as part of a broad water project bill, the project would receive $510,000 in state funding to cover the cost of one reinjection well, two monitoring wells, a disinfection system, day-to-day operations for a year, and a final report on the feasibility of the project.
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