Low Flow Analysis

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Low Flow Analysis Water Use PlanScience
Community Environmental Knowledge FundForumJune
10, 2004

• Barry Ortman
• Diversified Technical Services
• Dawson Creek, BC

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Outline

• Purpose of the Project
• History of oilfield water use in NE BC
• Problems / Impacts
• Hydrology
• Water Use Plan Upper Beatton River
• Healing the Land Pilot Project
• Where do we go from here?

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History of Oilfield Water Use

• Drilling, camps, ice roads, hydrostatic testing
  and processing plants.
• Short Term Approval for Water Use
• Schedule A Approved Sources
• Fast paced activity
• Water Flows are at a minimum when activity peaks
• Working Area is _at_ 600 km. X 150 km.

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Purpose

• The Low Flow project intends to mitigate the
  impacts of water use on the aquatic resources by
  developing a water plan for oil and gas
  exploration.
• The basic concept of the project is to identify
  where we have water supply problems, map the base
  flow conditions, locate suitable storage sites
  and review with the stakeholders for input.
• Water will be diverted and stored during the
  spring runoff and used when the stream flow has
  dropped.

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Mean Monthly Flows for the Blueberry River
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Activity levels for exploration
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Problems / Impacts

• Monitoring of Withdrawals
• Water Flow Data is minimal
• Lack of Infrastructure
• Beaver Habitat Impacts
• Fish / Habitat Impacts
• Downstream Water Users
• Regulatory - Admin. Problems

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Process Phase I

• Identified High Value Watersheds for fish, water
  use, recreation and First Nations that
  overlapped with high oilfield activity zones.
• Identified problem areas and activities.
• Completed Hydrology Assessment and mapping.
• Field measurements on streams to confirm
  hydrology.
• Identified base flow conditions for 5 watersheds
  (0.056m3/s) in the Liard, Fort Nelson, Fontas,
  Peace and Wapiti watersheds.

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Hydrology

• Forest Information Systems Ltd. completed the
  hydrology and mapping aspect using the Water
  Survey of Canada data.
• Analyzed using the 7 day low flow, probability of
  exceedence and regression analysis.
• Watershed size of 3800 km.2 is required to meet
  the minimum flow in the November to March season
  for a 2 year return period on the Plateau.

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Water Use Plan Upper Beatton River

• Upper Beatton River was identified as having
  minimal stream flow, no surface storage and
  minimal lakes for water use.
• We looked at the history of drilling, soils,
  forest cover, topo maps, digital ortho photos,
  hydrology maps and field inspections to identify
  needs, storage locations and alternate sources.
• Discussed with industry, regulatory staff, First
  Nations and water haulers to confirm the needs
  and possible source locations.
• By storing surface runoff we can have a minimal
  impact on a system by withdrawing during the
  least impact time of year.

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Offstream Storage

• Offstream storage is a proven technique to store
  water during high runoff times for use in low
  flow seasons.
• Low maintenance, minimal impact and cost
  effective storage solution.
• By incorporating habitat and forestry needs we
  produce a site that has multiple benefits.
• Nesting zones, edge habitat and riparian
  vegetation increase the habitat potential of the
  site.

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Healing the Land Pilot Project

• Outcome of Upper Beatton Water Use Plan
• Highest and best use of the land.
• Cumulative impacts from water use and land
  disturbances (borrow pits).
• Demonstration sites for multiple benefits.

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Construction and Exploration Planning

• By Incorporating the water development into the
  construction aspect we can develop these projects
  with minimal cost and have years of benefit to
  the area.
• These benefits will be long lasting and will not
  show up as a scar on the landscape but rather as
  a natural opening and wetland.

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Conclusions and recommendations?

• Complete the hydrology mapping.
• Water demand mapping.
• Implement Beatton Water Use Plan and the Healing
  the Land pilot project.
• Require oil companies to obtain a water licence
  and use the base map as source of supply.
• Assess lakes and identify acceptable sources.

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Acknowledgements

• DTS would like to thank the Oil and Gas
  Commission, the Science and Community Knowledge
  Fund and especially Derek Doyle for having the
  enthusiasm and interest in this project.
• Thank You.