WATER POLLUTION CONTROL RESEARCH SERIES I6060HIJ 02/72 EVALUATION OF SALT WATER DISPOSAL INTO POTENTIAL GROUND-WATER RESOURCES U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ------- WATER POLLUTION CONTROL RESEARCH SERIES m-nm i -.IT-IT- -ti-r.nmr.T-Un.-a-gu-M. i.jmra !____ -] g ;~irv.- T m _n - .» : --T ~ ~ J —nr. t.-mmin . j r [ i-H._i_riffr The Water Pollution Control Research Series describes the results and progress in the control and abatement of pollution in our Nation's waters. They provide a central source of information on the research, development, and demonstration activities in the water research program of the Environmental Protection Agency, through inhou.se research and grants and contracts with Federal, State, and local agencies, research institutions, and industrial organizations. Inquiries pertaining to Water Pollution Control Research Reports should be directed to the Chief, Publications Branch (Water), Research Information Division, RSM, Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. ------- EVALUATION OF SALT WATER DISPOSAL INTO POTENTIAL GROUND-WATER RESOURCES by Fred A. Norris Oklahoma Corporation Commission 380 Jim Thorpe Building Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105 for the OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND MONITORING ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Project 16060 HIJ February 1972 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 20402 - Price 35 cents ------- EPA Review Notice This report h~.s been reviewed by the Environmental Protec- tion Agency and approved for publication. Approval does net signify that the contents 'necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Environmental Protection Agency, nor dees mention of trace names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation, for use. ii ------- Abstract The Glorieta Sandstone was developed and tested for water quality in an abandoned oil test located in western Texas County, Oklahoma to evaluate the use of the formation as a potential water source. Results of chemical analyses (e.g. , chloride content is 9,400 mg/1) support previous conclusions that water from the Glorieta is high in chloride and dissolved solids and cannot be used for most beneficial purposes without being desalinized or being mixed with a high propor- tion of water of low dissolved solids content. iii ------- CONTENTS Section Page CONCLUSIONS 1 INTRODUCTION 3 FIELD PROCEDURES 5 ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES 9 RESULTS 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 15 REFERENCES 17 ------- FIGURES Number Title Page 1 Vicinity Map 7 VI ------- TABLES Number Title Page 1 Chemical Analysis of Water From the Glorieta Sandstone 13 ------- CONCLUSIONS 1. The use of an abandoned oil test proved satisfactory in determining the quality of the water in the Glorieta Formation penetrated by this well. The test was made to obtain data which would be used in evaluat- ing the potential of the formation as a water source. 2. The chemical analysis of water from the Glorieta Sandstone indi- cates that the water in the formation is high in dissolved solids and would have to be either desalted or mixed with a high proportion of good-quality water before the water could be used for such purposes as irrigation or municipal supply. 3. The Glorieta Formation is composed of very fine unconsolidated sand. Completion and pumping of water wells in the formation would be diffi- cult and considerably more expensive than present water wells in the High Plains area. ------- INTRODUCTION This project was conducted as a continuation of other work enti- tled "Determination of Pollutional Potential of the Ogallala Aquifer by Salt Water Injection".^ Both projects are concerned with the injection of oil field brines into the Glorieta Formation which lies a few hundred feet below the Ogallala Formation, a major fresh water aquifer in several states. Both projects were conducted in Texas County in the Panhandle of Oklahoma. The first project dealt primarily with the pollutional potential by establishing the relationship of the hydraulic potentials of each geologic formation. In the report of that project, it was stated that the quality of native water in the Glorieta was not adequately estab- lished and an evaluation of that formation as a potential water re- source could not be made. This report, therefore, presents findings and recommendations relative to water quality information in the Glorieta in an area where there has been no previous brine disposal. The project was designed to provide water quality information at the lowest possible cost. It entailed perforating and testing the Glorieta Section in an existing but abandoned oil-test well in the western part of Texas County, Oklahoma. The well was ideally suited for this purpose in that it was drilled and plugged recently by a major oil company and has casing extending through the Glorieta Formation. The Glorieta Sand is extremely fine-grained sand, rounded and completely unconsolidated (like beach sand). Electrical logs indicate that very thin lenticular shale lenses exist throughout the Glorieta Section. ------- FIELD PROCEDURE The well used in this project was the Texaco No. 1 H.C. Hitch, Jr. As shown in Figure 1, it is located in the NE 1/4 of Section 5, Township 2 North, Range 10 ECM. It was completed in May of 1968 to a depth of 5509 feet and found to be a dry hole. The well was subse- quently plugged in September, 1969. The well is cased with 1596 feet of 8 5/8" casing which extends from the land surface through and be- low the Glorieta Formation. The casing at the beginning of this test was plugged with cement and heavy mud. The field phase of this project was performed during the eight-day period, September 27 to October 4, 1971. The principal steps of this phase are listed and discussed as follows: 1. The cement plugs and mud in the casing were removed by rotary drilling and bailing. 2. A new plug consisting of 35 sacks of cement was set in the casing from 1475 feet to 1589 feet below land surface. 3. The hole was swabbed and bailed dry. 4. Observations were made for two hours to see whether or not there would be leakage past the new cement plug. No fluid entered the hole during this observation period. 5. A Gamma Ray-Collar Log was run from 1450 feet to surface. This log provided the basis for determining the position and thickness of the Glorieta Formation and the interval to be perforated. The log showed that the top of the Glorieta is 993 feet below land surface and the base of the formation is at 1176 feet. 6. The well was jet perforated with four shots at 1003 feet, which is ten feet below the formation top. The perforations were made while the hole was still dry. 7. After the casing was perforated, fluid entered the well and rose to 790 feet. The well was left in this condition for about sixteen hours before the process of removing water from the well was begun. 8. To assure that the water samples collected for chemical analy- sis were not contaminated with drilling fluids, a large amount of water was removed from the well. This water removal was achieved by bailing. While bailing, 36 trips were made, re- presenting approximately 23 barrels of water. During the bailing operations, water quality parameters were monitored until the quality stabilized thereby assuring that Glorieta water was indeed being sampled. ------- 9. A large amount of sand entered the well during the bailing opera- tions. This condition resulted largely because the sand compos- ing the formation was fine grained and unconsolidated. The condition necessitated that all samples had to be filtered thoroughly to remove the suspended fine sand and silt before chemical analysis could be performed. Measurements revealed that 185 feet of sand settled out on top of the plug in the well; this represents about 65 cubic feet of sand. 10. After completion of the tests, the well was plugged in compliance with the Rules and Regulations of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. 11. All equipment, debris, and drilling mud were removed from the pro- ject site; the casing was cut off three feet below ground level and was capped with a steel plate; then the location and access road were leveled. ------- KANSAS H 2 ^ O O 2 O o: o: < I o TEXAS COUNTY V Hooker OKLAH OMA * Hordesty a: UJ UJ CD TEXAS Test Site Figure I VICINITY MAP ------- ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES Throughout the swabbing and bailing operations, water samples from the well were periodically analyzed in the field for pH, specific conductance, chlorides, and total alkalinity. These samples, which were quite turbid, were filtered through a Millipore glass-fiber pre- filter before analysis. Specific conductance and pH were determined respectively by means of an Industrial Instruments Model RB-3 conduc- tivity meter and an Orion Model 901 Research lonalyzer. Chlorides were determined by titration of samples with mercuric nitrate.&j Total alkalinity was determined by the mixed bromcresol green-methyl red indicator method.'•*) When chlorides and total alkalinity of water from the test well had remained essentially constant for approximately three hours, indi- cating that water truly representative of that in the Glorieta Aquifer was being obtained, samples were collected for shipment to the labora- tory to be analyzed for sulfate, total hardness, total dissolved solids, nitrate, nitrite, total kjeldahl nitrogen, phosphorus, and selected metals. These samples were initially collected in stainless steel buckets and then were further processed after allowing a short period for settling of suspended matter. Samples to be analyzed for sulfate, total hardness, and total dissolved solids were decanted from the stainless steel buckets directly into suitable containers for shipment to the laboratory, with no further treatment in the field. Before analysis in the laboratory, these samples were filtered through Whatman No. 566 filter paper. Sulfate was determined by the standard turbidim'etric method, employing Sulfaver (Hach Chemical Company) as conditioning reagent.™' The com- plexometric titration method was employed for total hardness determin- ation with cyclohexanediaminetetraacetic acid being utilized as the titrant.'-*' Total dissolved solids were determined by evaporating 100 ml aliquots of the filtered samples to dryness on a steam bath, and weighing after further oven drying at 103°C.'"' For determination of nitrates, nitrites, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, and total phosphorus, samples were decanted from the stainless steel collection buckets into shipping containers and then were "fixed" by addition of 2 ml H^SO^/liter in the field, before return to the labora- tory. Nitrates and nitrites were determined by the automated hydra- zine reduction method,''' with the method of standard additions being employed to compensate for interferences produced by other components of the samples. Total Kjeldahl nitrogen was determined by a stand- ardized procedureRfor water analysis, employing titration as the final analytical step. For determination of total phosphorus, all phos- phorus was first converted to orthophosphate by digestion of samples with sulfuric acid-ammonium persulfate.™) in order to eliminate potential interferences and increase sensitivity of the analyses, the orthophosphate was then determined by a procedure utilizing organic solvent extraction. This procedure was essentially that of Jenkins,^10' ------- with the following exceptions: (1) benzene-isobutyl alcohol (1:1) was used as extracting solvent; (2) 15 drops of dilute solution of stannuous chloride in glycerol'^' were employed as reducing agent; (3) 12 - 15 min utes were allowed for color development before determination of absorb- ance. Samples to be analyzed for metals were filtered through 0.45u Millipore filters and "fixed" by adding 2 ml concentrated nitric acid per liter of filtered sample in the field. Sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, aluminum, strontium, and barium were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, utilizing a Perkin-Elmer Model 403 atomic absorption spectrophotometer and standardized analytical procedures. To obviate potential interferences in analysis of barium and strontium, standard addition was employed for determination of these metals. Zinc, cadmium, iron, tin, manganese, copper, nickel, lead, and hexa valent chromium were determined by emission spectroscopy, employing a Jarrell-Ash Mark IV Ebert convertible plane grating spectrograph with rotating disc attachment for sampling and a high voltage spark for exci- tation. The metals were concentrated for analysis by chelating with ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate and extracting the metal chelates from the water samples with chloroform.^ ' Boron was determined by the Curcumin method. 10 ------- RESULTS The results of this project are expressed as water quality informa- tion for native water in the Glorieta Formation at the test site. This information is shown in Table 1, along with the United States Public Health Service Drinking Water Standards for comparative purposes. It can be seen by examining Table 1 that 50 percent of the applicable stand- ards are exceeded by a considerable margin. This chemical analysis of Glorieta water is in line with data which the U.S. Geological Survey collected for six different locations in Texas County. These six analyses show the Glorieta water to range in chloride concentration from 10,196 to 31,028 parts per million. On the basis of these analyses and several others collected in other parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas, the U.S. Geological Survey concluded that "the water is high in chloride and dissolved solids". 11 ------- Table 1 Chemical Analysis of Water From the Glorieta Sandstone* Parameter Temperature Specific Conductance PH Cl Total Alkalinity as CaCO- Total Dissolved Solids Total Hardness so4 NO -N NO^-N Total Kjeldahl N P Na Ca Mg Sr Ba Al Zn Cd Fe Sn Mn Cu Ni Pb Cr B Glorieta Water 21.0°C 34,000 umhos/cm 7.5 9,400 mg/1 1,740 mg/1 22,649 mg/1 2,400 mg/1 3,475 mg/1 0.5 mg/1 <0.1 mg/1 2.7 mg/1 0.1 mg/1 7,700 mg/1 112 mg/1 163 mg/1 12 mg/1 <10 mg/1 <1 mg/1 0.34 mg/1 <0.05 mg/1 1.6 mg/1 <0.1 mg/1 0.11 mg/1 0.05 mg/1 0.14 mg/1 0.10 mg/1 <0.05 mg/1 0.1 mg/1 USPHS Drinking Water Standards (16) 250 mg/1 500 mg/1 250 mg/1 45.0 mg/1 1.0 mg/1 5.0 mg/1 0.01 mg/1 0.3 mg/1 .05 mg/1 1.0 mg/1 0.05 mg/1 0.05 mg/1 *Sample collected October 1, 1971, from Texaco Oil Test, Hitch No. 1, located NE 1/4, NE 1/4, Sec. 5, T2N, R10ECM, Texas County, Oklahoma. 13 ------- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A project of this nature necessarily involves the energy, talent, and cooperation of a number of people to whom proper credit should be given. Special acknowledgement is made of Dan R. Dunnett and W. H. Bowers of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission staff for all assistance in preparation of plans, securing bids and supervising actual testing operations. Appreciation is expressed to H. H. Smith for his help in arranging and conducting field phases of the project. Special acknowledgement is also made of Texaco, Inc., who made the project possible by allowing their oil test to be utilized for this purpose. Henry C. Hitch, Jr., is acknowledged for his cooperation in granting access to the project site. Our special thanks to George Freeman, Jr., and Virgil Higgins of the Texas County Irrigation Association for their assistance in obtaining temporary road (provided by county) and their encouragement and advice during testing. Leslie G. McMillion, who served as Project Officer from the Environmental Protection Agency, is acknowledged with thanks for his assistance in all phases of this project. Recognition of others in the Environmental Protection Agency who participated are: Messrs. W. J. Dunlap, Roger Cosby, James McNabb, and Jack 'Keeley, members of the National Ground Water Research Program of the Robert S. Kerr Water Research Center. Their assistance was invaluable in both the field and laboratory phases of analytical determinations. DeWayne Reeves, Supervisor for the prime contractor, for all his suggestions and assistance in securing conclusive tests is also acknowledged. 15 ------- REFERENCES 1. McMillion, Leslie G. and Bruce W. Maxwell, "Determination of Pollutional Potential of the Ogallala Aquifer by Salt Water Injection," EPA, Robert S. Kerr Water Research Center, Ada, Oklahoma, June 1970. 2. Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 13th Edition, American Public Health Association, New York, 1971, p. 97. 3. Ibid, p. 54. 4. Ibid, p. 334. 5. Ibid, p. 179. 6. Ibid, p. 535. 7. Methods for Chemical Analysis of Water and Wastes, Environmental Protection Agency, Analytical Quality Control Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1971, p. 185. 8. Ibid, p. 149. 9. Ibid, p. 254. 10. Jenkins, David, "A Study of Methods Suitable for the Analysis and Presentation of Phosphorus Forms in an Estuarine Environment," Sanitary Engineering Research Laboratory Report No. 65-18, University of California, Berkeley, 1965, p. 45. 11. Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 13th Edition, American Public Health Association, New York, 1971, p. 530. 12. Methods for Chemical Analysis of Water and Wastes, Environmental Protection Agency, Analytical Quality Control Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1971, p. 83. 13. Analytical Methods for Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry, The. Perkin-Elmer Corporation, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1964. 14. Kopp, John F. and Robert C. Kramer, "A Concentration Method for the Spectrochemical Determination of Minor Elements in Natural Waters," Environmental Protection Agency, Analytical Quality Control Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio. 17 ------- 15. Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 13th Edition, American Public Health Association, New York, 1971, p. 69. 16. Public Health Service Drinking Water Standards, 1962, U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service Publication No. 956. 17. Irwin, James H. and Robert B. Morton, "Hydrogeologic Information on the Glorieta Sandstone and the Ogallala Formation in the Oklahoma Panhandle and Adjoining Areas as Related to Underground Waste Disposal," Geological Survey Circular 630, 1969. 18 ------- 1 .Access/on Number w 5 n Subject Field & Group 07B SELECTED WATER RESOURCES ABSTRACTS INPUT TRANSACTION FORM Organization Title Evaluation of Salt Water Disposal into Potential Ground Water Resources 10 Authors) Fred A. Norris Field Operations of Oil & Gas Division of Oklahoma Corporation Commission 16 Project Designation EPA Project 16060 HIJ 21 Note 22 Citation 23 Descriptors (Starred First) *Brackish Water, *Water Analysis, *0n Site test, Well Casing 25 Identifiers (Starred First) *Brackish Ground Water, *Potential Ground Water Source, Test Well 27 Abstract The Glorieta Sandstone was developed and tested for water quality in an abandoned oil test located in western Texas County, Oklahoma to evaluate the use of the formation as a potential water source. Results of chemical analyses (e.g., chloride content is 9,400 mg/1) support previous conclusions that water from the Glorieta is high in chloride and dissolved solids and can not be used for most beneficial purposes without being desalinized or being mixed with a high proportion of water of low dissolved solids content. Abstractor Fred A. Norris Institution Oklahoma Corporation Commission WR:102 (REV. JULY 1969; WRSIC SEND. WITH COPY OF DOCUMENT. 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