Patent ID: 7314568

Claim:
A method for conditioning a volume of influent water resulting from coal bed methane drilling activities, with the conditioning employed to reduce the electrical conductance of the influent water by reducing levels of sodium cations and bicarbonates present in the influent water, with the method comprising the steps of: a) preparing and chemically modifying a load of molecular filtering material for use in a process stage for conditioning influent water passing through the process stage by way of an ion exchange process; b) collecting influent water and employing a gravity feed arrangement for causing a flowing of the influent water through the process stage, wherein the influent water enters at a lower location proximate to a bottom of the process stage, thereby causing the influent water to flow upwardly through the load of molecular filtering material, while exiting the process stage at a location that is proximate to a high water line and elevated with respect to the lower location proximate to the bottom at which the influent water first entered the process stage; c) with the flowing of the influent water through the process stage effecting a contacting with surfaces of the load of molecular filtering material and causing a cation exchange process wherein sodium cations are exchanged while calcium cations and bicarbonates are released; d) further employing the gravity feed arrangement for causing a flowing of partially conditioned influent water from the process stage into an output finishing stage, for additional conditioning wherein the calcium cations now present in the influent water react with bicarbonates, causing a precipitating of the bicarbonates as the partially conditioned influent water passes through the output finishing stage, prior to exiting from the output finishing stage; e) with the conditioning of the volume of influent water resulting from coal bed methane drilling activities, wherein the gravity feed arrangement is employed for causing a flowing and conditioning of the influent water for reducing the electrical conductance by reducing levels of sodium cations and bicarbonates present in discharged output water.