When interest in the Eagle Ford shale took off, South Texas residents began questioning whether the region would have enough water for hydraulic fracturing, and groundwater districts in the area were called upon to provide guidance. The problem was that these regional boards did not know enough about fracing to be confident in providing answers.

Dr. Darrell Brownlow, principle, Intercoastal Inland Services LLC, has been a board member on groundwater districts in the area and a member of the South Central Texas Regional Planning Group. He also is a rancher and landowner within the Eagle Ford play, which places him in a unique position to examine the water issue.

“When Eagle Ford became front and center and people began questioning whether we’ll have enough water, the first question was, ‘How much water will we need?’” he said. “I looked at the water supply because I heard a lot of ridiculous claims, rumors, and half truths.”

The State of Texas does a good job in water planning and water supply usage, Brownlow said, but nobody had a firm grasp of what this new demand on water resources would mean.

An important fact to place on the table is that the area has significant groundwater resources, he said. Millions of acre/feet of water are used for such things as municipal usage, steam electricity, industry, and agriculture. The volume of water that likely would be employed for fracing in the Eagle Ford would not make up a large piece of the pie.

Brownlow determined that approximately 15 acre/feet of water are used for a typical frac job. He used this figure to draw some comparisons. “The groundwater districts permit two acre/feet per acre of land for agriculture purposes,” he explained. “So the 15 acre/feet of water used for fracing is equal to water used for 7.5 acres of agricultural production.”

In simple comparative economic terms, the benefit from 80 to 100 oil wells is US $2.5 billion as opposed to $200,000 to $300,000 for corn. “Using the water for fracing is 13,000 times as beneficial economically,” he said.

Though revenue is not the sole determinant of value, it carries weight in the final debate. Fortunately, the governing bodies in the area are willing to listen to what Brownlow has to say.

“We’re a water savvy area. We have a thriving and viable water planning community that is starting to work on this issue. It’s not too late to ensure the mechanisms are in place to plan and do things right. The horse is not out of the barn.”