This document discusses methods for transporting large volumes of water needed for drilling sites. Key options include sourcing groundwater onsite, trucking via tankers, and using temporary above-ground or buried pipelines. Groundwater sourcing is preferable if available but requires licensing. Trucking requires many vehicle movements that impact roads and communities. Pipelines can transport water more efficiently with less traffic but require infrastructure and cause short-term disruption during installation. Costs are site-specific based on water source, volumes needed, transportation method, and environmental factors. Careful planning is needed to reliably supply sufficient water cost-effectively while minimizing impacts.

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TRANSPORTING WATER TO DRILLING
SITES
Dr Martin Preene
Preene Groundwater Consulting
June 2014

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SYNOPSIS
Synopsis
• Background to water supply to drilling sites
• Transportation methods
• Options to deploy transportation methods
• Costs
• Conclusion

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PRACTICE PROFILE
Preene Groundwater Consulting is the Professional Practice
of Dr Martin Preene and provides specialist advice and design
services in the fields of dewatering, groundwater engineering
and hydrogeology to clients worldwide
Dr Martin Preene has more than 25 years’ experience on
projects worldwide in the investigation, design, installation
and operation of groundwater control and dewatering
systems. He is widely published on dewatering and
groundwater control and is the author of the UK industry
guidance on dewatering (CIRIA Report C515 Groundwater
Control Design and Practice) as well as a dewatering text book
(Groundwater Lowering in Construction: A Practical Guide to
Dewatering)

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BACKGROUND TO WATER SUPPLY
• Significant quantities of water are needed for oil & gas drilling
sites
• This presentation assumes that a source of water has been
identified and is available
• A key problem is that the water source is typically not on the
drilling site, and the water must be transported to the site, by
means that are practicable, environmentally acceptable and
economic
• This presentation will look at the challenges of transporting
water to drilling sites

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BACKGROUND TO WATER SUPPLY
• Water is required on drilling sites for a range of purposes:
– Site welfare
– Drilling fluid make up
– Hydraulic fracturing
• The volume of water required for hydraulic fracturing will
be unique to each site and each well, controlled by:
– Geology
– Working methods
– Regulatory constraints
• But it is clear that large volumes of water are required

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BACKGROUND TO WATER SUPPLY
• How much water is needed for hydraulic fracturing?
• American practice (e.g. EPA, API) reports that 2 to 5 million US
Gallons per well is typical (this is 7,500 to 19,000 m3 per well)
• The Poyry (2011) Report for Ofgem ‘Impact of Unconventional
Gas on Europe’ states that hydraulic fracturing typically
requires 20,000 m3 per well. It also states that a deep well
with multistage hydraulic fracturing may require 30,000 m3
per well
• These are large volumes for an individual well, and there may
be multiple wells from a single drill pad

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BACKGROUND TO WATER SUPPLY
• Water transportation options will be controlled not just by the total
volume but also by flow rate (Volume  Time)
• The longer the time available to transport a given volume of water,
the lower the average flow rate – this reduces the capacity of the
required water transportation infrastructure
• Say a well needs 20,000 m3 of hydraulic fracturing water in 10
stages of 2,000 m3 each
• If the water for each stage has to be delivered to site in 1 day that is
a mean flow rate of 2,000 m3/day (23 litre/sec) – or 67 x 30 m3 road
tanker loads in 24 hours
• But, if the water for each stage can be delivered to site over 4 days
that is a mean flow rate of 500 m3/day (6 litre/sec) – or an average
of 17 x 30 m3 road tanker loads in each 24 hour period

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WATER SUPPLY SOURCE OPTIONS
• Possible water source Possible access point
• Mains water supply Water company source works;
Water company trunk main
• Surface water abstraction River, lake or water body
• Groundwater abstraction Water wells
• Industrial process water Existing industrial facility
• Additionally, there may be an option to re-use some of the on-site water
by treating and re-cycling some of the flow back water recovered from the
well – this will reduce the water volumes requiring transportation
• But in general, the water source will be away from the drilling site, and
some means to transport large volumes of water will be required

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TRANSPORTATION METHODS
The main options for transport of water to be used in hydraulic
fracturing are:
• Sourcing on site (e.g. groundwater wells at the drill pad)
• Trucking (i.e. road tankers)
• Surface laid steel/aluminium sectional pipe
• Surface laid high specification layflat flexible pipework
• Buried HDPE pipes (e.g. conventional utility ‘water main’
technology)

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SOURCING ON SITE (GROUNDWATER)
• This is the easiest transportation option – because the water
is generated on site, typically by abstracting groundwater
• Instead of requiring infrastructure for transportation, the
infrastructure is required on the drill pad to allow the water to
be abstracted
• Low visual impact and limited impact on neighbouring
communities
• Groundwater will not be an option on all sites
• Various steps are needed to determine if groundwater is
available and can be used

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SOURCING ON SITE (GROUNDWATER)
• A site investigation is required to determine whether the drill
pad is located over an aquifer and if groundwater is of
acceptable quality
• Any significant abstraction (more than 10 to 20 m3/d) will
require licensing by the environmental regulator
– England: Environment Agency
– Wales: Natural Resources Wales
– Scotland: Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)
– Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Environment Agency

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SOURCING ON SITE – WELLPOINTS
• If shallow (less than 10 m deep) sand
or gravel aquifers are present it may
be possible to use shallow pumped
‘wellpoints’
• These are arrays of shallow wells
pumped by suction pumps, can be
diesel or electrically powered
• Widely available, simple technology

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SOURCING ON SITE – WATER WELLS
• If the aquifer is
deeper, one or more
conventional ‘water
wells’ will have to
drilled
• Wells are pumped by
slimline electric
borehole submersible
pumps
• Widely available
technology
Photo: BDF

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TRUCKING
• Trucking of water (via mobile water tankers) is a means of
transporting water without the need for permanent or semi-
permanent water transportation infrastructure
• There may be a need for infrastructure to fill and discharge
the tankers
• Large number of vehicle movements will be involved. This
may require road improvements or changes in traffic
management
• The impact of vehicle movements should be recognised in
environmental studies

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TRUCKING
• Articulated road tankers can
carry up to 30 m3 of water
• Travel on public roads, are
very visible sign of a project,
will impact local
communities
• Large number of vehicle
movements required –
20,000 m3 requires 667 x
30 m3 tanker loads
• On public roads individual
drivers are subject to driving
hours controls (like any
other HGV) Photo: Water Direct

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TRUCKING
• An alternative to water
tankers is to transport
water in ISO containers
carried by conventional
trucks
• A 20 foot ISO container can
be fitted with an internal
liner ‘water bag’ which
allows it to hold and
discharge 24 m3 of water
• More discrete
transportation (does not
look like a tanker) but more
vehicle movements
compared to
30 m3 tankers
Photos: Water Direct

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TRUCKING
• It is likely that a fleet of several
tankers will be needed for each
well
• High flow rate pumps will be
needed at fill and discharge
points to speed up the transport
cycle
• Road system may need uprating
• There are significant health and
safety and space issues
associated with marshalling
such large numbers of truck
movements at fill and discharge
points Photo: Water Direct

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TEMPORARY PIPEWORK (ALL TYPES)
• Temporary pipework can be rigid
and sectional or flexible and
effectively continuous
• Generally surface laid (not buried)
• Route choices are:
– Line of sight (cross-country) – land access for
working strip required, need to cross hedges,
ditches, damage to farmland
– Road side (indirect) – follow highways, need to
cross side roads and junctions (trench under road
or ramp road over pipe)
• Laying activities and long term
presence of pipework needs to be
included in environmental studies
Photo: Millars Products
Photo: Angus Flexible Pipelines

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TEMPORARY PIPEWORK (ALL TYPES)
• The potential advantages of temporary
pipework are:
– Removed at the end of the project
– Can be re-used on multiple projects
– Can be procured on a sale or rental basis
– Avoids the impact on communities of multiple
tanker movements
• The potential disadvantages of temporary
pipework are:
– Highly visible
– Potentially at risk of vandalism or accidental
damage
– Risk of water leakage from joints giving
potential environmental and health and safety
problems
Photo: Millars Products
Photo: Angus Flexible Pipelines

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SECTIONAL PIPEWORK
• Sectional pipework is available in
steel and aluminium, in various
diameters (commonly 100 mm,
150 mm, 200 mm)
• Diameter is chosen in relation to
desired flow rate and friction
losses/pumping costs
• Standard lengths are 6 m or
12 m
• Pipe is ‘rigid’ so separate bends,
fittings, etc. are needed for
major changes in direction
Photos: Millars Products

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SECTIONAL PIPEWORK
• Pipework is laid by mixture of mechanical
plant and manual handling
• Pipework laid out by plant (telehandler or
rough terrain forklift) but final positioning and
connection by hand
• Connections are either ‘quick action’
couplings (e.g. Bauer connections) or bolted
connections (e.g. Victaulic connections)
• One crew can typically lay 300 to 500 m per
day
• Can be procured by purchase or rental
• Removed and re-used at end of project
Photo: Millars Products

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HIGH SPECIFICATION LAYFLAT PIPEWORK
Photos:
Angus Flexible Pipelines
• Specialist flexible pipework is
available in various diameters
(150 mm, 200 mm, 300 mm)
• Diameter is chosen in relation to
desired flow rate and friction
losses/pumping costs. Smooth
bore flexible hose is typically
more hydraulically efficient than
sectional metal pipework
• Standard lengths are 200 m reels,
coupled together (fewer joints
than sectional pipework)
• Pipe is flexible and can cope with
gradual changes in direction

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HIGH SPECIFICATION LAYFLAT PIPEWORK
Photos:
Angus Flexible Pipelines
• Pipework is delivered on demountable
reels
• Pipework laid out by unreeling from the
back of a slowly moving truck
• Connections made every 200 m, typically
bolted connections (e.g. Victaulic
connections)
• One crew can typically lay 2,000 m per
hour in favourable conditions
• Can be procured by purchase or rental
• Removed and re-used at end of project

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HIGH SPECIFICATION LAYFLAT PIPEWORK
Photos:
Angus Flexible Pipelines

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BURIED HDPE PIPEWORK
• There is a wide range of contractors working
in the utility industry who are highly
experienced in laying buried HDPE pipework
• Wide range of HDPE pipe – different
diameters, material type and pressure
rating. Selection is based on desired flow
rate and friction losses/pumping costs.
• Common sizes are in range 100 to 200 mm
diameter
• Jointing normally by fusion welding
• Pipework is relatively inflexible and requires
bends and fittings at major changes in
direction

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BURIED HDPE PIPEWORK
• Relatively slow to lay because of need to trench,
backfill and re-instate. One crew can typically lay 20 m
per day in road carriageway, 40 m per day in verge,
higher rates can be achieved cross country in
favourable conditions
• Disruptive during construction but finished pipeline has
low visual impact, low vulnerability to vandalism and
reduced leakage risks compared to surface pipelines
• Lack of flexibility – effectively must be purchased (no
rental options) cannot easily be removed and re-used
at end of project

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DEPLOYMENT OPTIONS
• Simplest option is single source and single transportation route
• Pumps are needed at source to either push water along pipeline or to fill
tankers
Single source – single transportation

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DEPLOYMENT OPTIONS
Multiple source – single transportation

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DEPLOYMENT OPTIONS
• If multiple drilling sites are to be developed, it may be possible to set up a
central hub at a location where it is straightforward to provide water, e.g. by
pipeline from source
• Tankers would then truck water the final short distance to multiple sites
Hybrid transportation with hub site

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DEPLOYMENT OPTIONS
• If road access to drilling site is narrow, constrained or environmentally
sensitive, tanker movements can be avoided by laying a temporary pipeline to
a suitable transfer point where the tankers discharge
• Reduces impact on local communities
• May allow 24 hour cycle of water delivery to site, when local vehicle
movements would be restricted at night
Hybrid transportation to reduce vehicle movements to drill site

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COSTS
• Water transportation costs will be unique to each site,
influenced by factors such as:
– The source of the water
– Quantity of water and required flow rate
– The distance between source and drilling site
– The arrangement of the sites (individual water supply or multiple sites)
– Type of water transportation
– Environmental and permitting constraints
• It is not possible to develop generic water transportation
costs per m3 (or perhaps more meaningfully costs per
1000 m3 per km per day)

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CONCLUSION
• Drilling sites potentially require large volumes of water for hydraulic
fracturing and other purposes
• The precise volumes needed will be unique to each well and each site, but
volumes of up to 20,000 to 30,000 m3 per well may be required
• Once a suitable water source has been identified and secured, the two
primary options are trucking and temporary pipelines, although there are
options for more permanent buried pipelines
• Reliable water delivery is key to successful hydraulic fracturing, and getting
the required volumes to the drilling site is a major logistical operation
which should not be underestimated
• Careful planning will be needed to ensure the infrastructure and logistics
are adequate to provide the water, that costs are optimised and that
environmental impacts are minimised

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Images and costs kindly provided by:
• Groundwater supplies:
BDF: www.bdf.co.uk
Groundwater Engineering Limited: www.groundwaterinternational.com
• Water tankers
Water Direct: www.water-direct.co.uk
• Sectional pipework
Millars Products: www.millarsproducts.com
Groundwater Engineering Limited: www.groundwaterinternational.com
• Flexible pipework
Angus Flexible Pipelines: www.flexiblepipelines.co.uk
• Water mains
Murphy Group: www.murphygroup.co.uk

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TRANSPORTING WATER TO DRILLING
SITES
Dr Martin Preene
Preene Groundwater Consulting
June 2014