Utah’s Division of Oil, Gas and Mining (DOGM) estimates that 90 percent of drilling waste is water with the remainder comprised of drilling mud and sludge.

How much water?

Roughly, “150 million barrels of water was produced through drilling activities last year in Utah,” says Gil Hunt, DOGM associate director.

Of that, 80 percent of the waste water is pumped underground, 14 percent is treated and discharged over the surface and six percent is transported to evaporation pits in the Basin’s disposal facilities.

It’s six times the volume of drilling waste water disposed in 1999.

And, not all of it comes from the Uintah Basin’s drilling activities.

“Out-of-state waste comes in from drilling operators with facilities in two states, Utah and Colorado, “ says Hunt, who explains the division’s regulatory authority doesn’t extend to neighboring states.

How much drilling waste for disposal comes from out-of-state?

When pressed about this, Hunt admits, “we just do not have an idea of the type or amount of waste being brought in” for disposal in the Basin.

Speaking before the Board of Oil, Gas and Mining board meeting in Vernal on Wednesday, Hunt said the problem of waste disposal was one of ever-increasing volume.

“The practice of hauling reserve pits material to an off-site disposal facility is fraught with problems,” Hunt wrote in a March 2009 DOGM memo.

The memo states the division’s preferred regulatory stance is that water and other by-products from the drilling remain and be mitigated in place.

That means injection over removal.

But, finding suitable subsurface geology to inject waste material or completing the regulatory compliance for the process has been difficult.

Hunt says the alternative involves surface disposal facilities with “evaporation pits, landfarms, compost operations and water treatment surface discharge.”

The regulations that govern drilling waste and water disposal are overseen by DOGM. According to the director the division is updating their procedures to face the growing demand for disposal and the abuse of existing regulations.

For example, “operators are constructing deeper evaporation pits, taking more out-of-state waste, and placing unauthorized waste in landfarms,” says Hunt.

He recommends in the future that “no drilling mud, sludge or any wet non-water materials from reserve pits and the drilling process be allowed at landfarms or other disposal facilities.”

Some of the abuses of the disposal permits are inadvertent - others are intentional.

Regulations regarding the disposal of chemical-ladened waste material and water vary by state. Colorado requires disclosure of chemicals in 50-gallon drums to be disposed. But, no state requires complete information about the chemicals from reserve pits for disposal.

The chemicals are residual fluids from hydraulic fracturing methods used in drilling. One chemical compound is hydrogen sulphide, which accounts for the odor generally associated with evaporation pits.

“We receive numerous complaints about the odors coming from these facilities in the county,” said Uintah County commissioner Darlene Burns. “Perhaps, DOGM could develop regulations to contain or eliminate these odors before they become apparent.”

Hunt stated that better upfront methods for evaluating and monitoring treatment locations should come of the division’s updating efforts.

mbernard@vernal.com