# Eagle Ford Shale Water Supply and Demand Stephen Jester, P.E.

# Eagle Ford Shale Play

Eagle Ford Shale Texas Association of Counties. The County Information Project. http://www.county.org/cip/Products/CountyMap.pdf

# Eagle Ford Shale Water Demand  Total Water demand estimate based on:  Forecasted number of future wells  Estimated water demand per well 

#  823 wells drilled, 394 completions in 2010  Number of rigs ramping up

# Eagle Ford Shale Water Demand  Potential 20,000 wells at full development*  Water demand per well  90,000 to 115,000 bbls  11.5 to 15 acre -feet 

#  Primary source of water - groundwater

*”Eagle Ford Shale Play and the Carrizo Aquifer”, Darrell Brownlow, PhD, Fountainhead 4 th qtr 2010

# Eagle Ford Shale Water Demand  EF Shale development assume over 10 - 15 years  Rate of 1300 to 2000 wells/yr  At 11.5 - 15 acre -ft/well,  15,000 to 30,000 acre -feet water demand/yr

# Other Water Demands in EF 2008 Water Use Survey Summary Estimates in Acre - Feet 1)

Eagle Ford Counties Source: TX Water Development Board ( http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/wrpi/wus/2008est/2008wus.asp) Region County Population Estimat es 2) Municipal Manufacturing Mining Steam Electric Irrigation Livestock L ATASCOSA 43,829 6,483 15 64 6,448 29,661 1,696 L DEWITT 20,166 3,573 129 63 0 13,094 1,849 L DIMMIT 9,964 2,267 0 0 0 7,069 517 L FRIO 16,333 2,583 0 0 189 83,725 889 L GONZALES 19,223 4,635 1,892 0 0 4,143 4,735 L KARNES 15,348 2,907 48 0 0 1,038 1,064 L LA SALLE 5,962 1,404 0 0 0 4,491 585 L WILSON 40,979 6,049 9 0 0 14,332 1,730 L ZAVALA 11,844 2,812 566 0 0 37,692 1,146 N BEE 33,117 5,221 0 0 0 6,270 856 N LIVE OAK 12,082 2,017 2,056 0 0 1,934 838 N MCMULLEN 859 173 0 219 0 0 395 P LAVACA 19,435 2,991 414 2 0 5,368 2,088 M WEBB 238,269 39,301 17 160 1,092 3,738 1,056 K COLORADO 21,774 3,131 151 15,741 0 134,720 1,634 K FAYETTE 24,116 3,262 224 2 19,146 76 2,130

Total 88,809 5,521 16,251 26,875 347,351 23,208

# EF Water Demand Comparison

538,000 Ac - Ft Total 347,000 ac -ft 30,000 ac -ft

Source: TX Water Development Board (http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/wrpi/wus/2008est/2008wus.asp)

# Gulf Coast Aquifer Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer

Source - Texas Water Development Board

# Groundwater Supply Availability  TWDB 2007 State Water Plan*  Gulf Coast Aquifer – 1,800,000 ac-ft availability

 Vs 1,200,000 ac-ft demand  Carrizo -Wilcox Aquifer – 1,000,000 Ac-ft availability

 Vs 450,000 ac-ft demand 

#  Groundwater Supply in Eagle Ford Area  Northern portion (Karnes County and north/east) – Gulf Coast Aquifer  Southern portion (Karnes County and south/west) – Carrizo - Wilcox Aquifer *http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/publications/reports/State_Water_Plan/2007/Chapter7.pdf

# Water Supply - North  Northern Area of Eagle Ford Shale  Supplied mainly by Gulf Coast Aquifer  Central Gulf Coast Aquifer overlaps northern EF in Karnes County and to North and East 

#  Central Gulf Coast Groundwater Availability Model*:  About 620,000 ac-ft annual flow through  30 percent rainfall  70 percent stream seepage 

#  Annual Pumping in 1999 was 420,000 ac-ft *http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/gam/glfc_c/glfc_c_TWDB_SummaryReport.pdf Pp 26, 88

# Water Supply - South  Southern Area of Eagle Ford Shale  Supplied mainly by Carrizo - Wilcox Aquifer  Southern region of C -W Aquifer overlaps Eagle Ford from Karnes County to Zavala and Dimmit Counties 

#  Southern Carrizo - Wilcox Groundwater Availability Model*  About 370,000 ac-ft annual flow through  87 percent recharge  12 percent streams 

#  Annual pumping estimated at 190,000 ac -ft/yr *Source: GAM for Southern Carrizo -Wilcox Aquifer, TWDB pp 8 - 20, 4 - 89 ( http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/gam/czwx_s/CZWX_S_Full_Report.pdf)

# Summary  Projected Oil & Gas Industry Water Demand in Eagle Ford:  approximately 3 - 6% of Total Demand 

#  Texas Water Development Board data show sufficient aquifer supply to meet 

# demand over this area.  Local conditions should be monitored to avoid impacts