Using Public Data to Quantify Oil and Gas Production’s Impact on Water Resources

While there are anecdotal accounts of water pollution and much speculation of potential hazards, there are few quantitative accounts of actual impacts to the water resources caused by oil and gas production. This research demonstrates combining currently available information from the Oklahoma corporation commission (OCC), the Oklahoma water resources board (OWRB), and the Oklahoma department of environmental quality (DEQ), it is possible to quantify recent potential water impacts. The OCC records and addresses drilling complaints through their risk based data management system (RBDM). With the RBDM it was possible to locate 99 recent complaints with saltwater or oil spills. Those locations were then correlated with the OWRB mapping of vulnerable aquifers based on the DRASTIC model, and it was found that 24% occurred over very high vulnerable aquifers. Complaints were also compared to DEQ mapping of public water supply (PWS) intakes. Only one spill was located within three miles of a PWS intake. This analysis demonstrates that current oil and gas production does impact surface and groundwater resources, but that only a small percent of the recent spills had the potential for serious consequences. While specific to Oklahoma, most states will have similar data available.