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Down the drain… and into energy production
In an unusual arrangement with the City of Dawson Creek, Shell engineers in Canada are using treated waste water instead of precious fresh water to make natural gas wells productive. They pipe it underground, reducing the number of water trucks. It leaves the city with access to more treated water for its own purposes.
Over the last few years Dawson Creek, in British Columbia, Canada, has moved from its traditional reliance on farming and ranching to include benefits from the oil and gas industry. Around 50 kilometres (30 miles) away, for example, a major resource of natural gas lies underground at Shell’s Groundbirch project.
When Shell engineers planned to tap it by drilling many new wells they knew it would require a lot of water. In an area prone to water shortages, they needed to avoid drawing on fresh water.
Shell teamed up with the city’s council in a special agreement to build a waste-water plant at the local sewage treatment area.
The plant uses man-made technology and natural bacteria to help clean up water that would otherwise be discharged into a local river.
Some of the treated water is reserved for Dawson Creek and can be used to irrigate public parks and sport fields.
A large volume is delivered through a 48-kilometre (29-mile) pipeline to the Groundbirch gas field, where it is pumped at high pressure into wells to help release natural gas. This virtually eliminates the need to draw on fresh water for Shell’s natural gas operations.
The pipeline reduces the need for tanker trucks, cutting down on noise and dust and making roads safer. The city also supplies this treated water to other operators in the area, resulting in greater operational sustainability and an improved environmental outcome for our entire industry.
Preserving fresh water through innovation - watch the video
Read the transcript
Title: Shell at Dawson Creek: Preserving fresh water through innovation
Duration: 3:01 minutes
[Carson Newby, Community Liaison Office, Groundbirch]
My name is Carson Newby, I'm Shell's Community Affairs Rep for the Groundbirch Venture here in Groundbirch, British Columbia.
The Groundbirch Venture is located in northeast BC, or British Columbia, and it's situated near the communities of Dawson Creek, Fort St. John and the village of Chetwynd.
[Manuel Willemse, Development Manager, Groundbirch]
Groundbirch is a very large piece of land, about 30 by 50 kilometres, that has a big resource in it of clean natural gas.
There's not only production coming from it which is about enough for two and a half million homes when it's fully up and running, it'll also live for about 40 years of production life.
[Carson Newby, Community Liaison Office, Groundbirch]
The Groundbirch area is like many other communities - it centres around water availability or access to water.
The ranching and farming community that's here has told us repeatedly how important water is to their lifestyle.
[Mike Bernier, Mayor, Dawson Creek]
One of the issues that we have is, the oil and gas industry requires a lot of water.
With the community really growing right now, it's something we really have to be cognisant of to make sure that it's a sustainable resource.
[Rej Tetrault, Operations Manager, Groundbirch]
We minimise the use of fresh water through recycling of the existing water that we have in the system.
What you can see here is actually a big part of that.
On the one side we have a pond that holds nothing but produced water, and this is water that comes back from our wells following the fracking process.
[Manuel Willemse, Development Manager, Groundbirch]
We were using water from ponds which are also used to actually water cattle and we would draw water from the river.
We were looking, as a company, for better sources of water that were less taxing on the environment and the community, and, at that time, it happened to line up that the city of Dawson Creek came out with a proposal to seek industry support for making more of their waste water.
[Mike Bernier, Mayor, Dawson Creek]
We had a discussion around council and it was actually somewhat in jest we made a joke that, "What if we used the water at our sewer lagoon?”
Shell came forward with a really great proposal of how they could partner with the community, partner with the city and we'd be able to make a project that was something that would benefit all of us.
[Rej Tetrault, Operations Manager, Groundbirch]
We partnered with the city to treat the water to a standard that would essentially allow the city to use that water to water lawns, service other industrial users, and we would be one of those industrial users.
[Manuel Willemse, Development Manager, Groundbirch]
This project is a big win-win, and I'm actually quite proud that I'm part of that project.
Lots of cities we know have tried to engage with Dawson Creek, to copy this and make more out of their waste water, so I have good hope that both in Shell as well as in the wider nation that some people will follow the thinking like this.
[Mike Bernier, Mayor, Dawson Creek]
This has been one of those amazing projects, that started with a small idea, that has not only worked out for Shell, but it's going to be beneficial for decades to come for the city of Dawson Creek.
[Caption]
Shell and the City of Dawson Creek officially opened the Reclaimed Water facility on September 7th, 2012.
Water usage, recycling and reclamation cycle for Shell's Groundbirch natural gas development
Read the transcript
Title: Shell at Dawson Creek: Preserving fresh water through innovation
Duration: 3:01 minutes
[Carson Newby, Community Liaison Office, Groundbirch]
My name is Carson Newby, I'm Shell's Community Affairs Rep for the Groundbirch Venture here in Groundbirch, British Columbia.
The Groundbirch Venture is located in northeast BC, or British Columbia, and it's situated near the communities of Dawson Creek, Fort St. John and the village of Chetwynd.
[Manuel Willemse, Development Manager, Groundbirch]
Groundbirch is a very large piece of land, about 30 by 50 kilometres, that has a big resource in it of clean natural gas.
There's not only production coming from it which is about enough for two and a half million homes when it's fully up and running, it'll also live for about 40 years of production life.
[Carson Newby, Community Liaison Office, Groundbirch]
The Groundbirch area is like many other communities - it centres around water availability or access to water.
The ranching and farming community that's here has told us repeatedly how important water is to their lifestyle.
[Mike Bernier, Mayor, Dawson Creek]
One of the issues that we have is, the oil and gas industry requires a lot of water.
With the community really growing right now, it's something we really have to be cognisant of to make sure that it's a sustainable resource.
[Rej Tetrault, Operations Manager, Groundbirch]
We minimise the use of fresh water through recycling of the existing water that we have in the system.
What you can see here is actually a big part of that.
On the one side we have a pond that holds nothing but produced water, and this is water that comes back from our wells following the fracking process.
[Manuel Willemse, Development Manager, Groundbirch]
We were using water from ponds which are also used to actually water cattle and we would draw water from the river.
We were looking, as a company, for better sources of water that were less taxing on the environment and the community, and, at that time, it happened to line up that the city of Dawson Creek came out with a proposal to seek industry support for making more of their waste water.
[Mike Bernier, Mayor, Dawson Creek]
We had a discussion around council and it was actually somewhat in jest we made a joke that, "What if we used the water at our sewer lagoon?”
Shell came forward with a really great proposal of how they could partner with the community, partner with the city and we'd be able to make a project that was something that would benefit all of us.
[Rej Tetrault, Operations Manager, Groundbirch]
We partnered with the city to treat the water to a standard that would essentially allow the city to use that water to water lawns, service other industrial users, and we would be one of those industrial users.
[Manuel Willemse, Development Manager, Groundbirch]
This project is a big win-win, and I'm actually quite proud that I'm part of that project.
Lots of cities we know have tried to engage with Dawson Creek, to copy this and make more out of their waste water, so I have good hope that both in Shell as well as in the wider nation that some people will follow the thinking like this.
[Mike Bernier, Mayor, Dawson Creek]
This has been one of those amazing projects, that started with a small idea, that has not only worked out for Shell, but it's going to be beneficial for decades to come for the city of Dawson Creek.
[Caption]
Shell and the City of Dawson Creek officially opened the Reclaimed Water facility on September 7th, 2012.
A natural filter for water
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Find out more about Nimr reed bedsMore in Sustainability
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We manage our use of water carefully and invest in new approaches and technologies to use it more efficiently.
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