WATER , WATER , EVERYWHERE !
Production is booming in the vast Central California oil fields which rely on secondary recovery techniques ( steam and water injection ) to bring up the heavy crude .
freshwater or disposing of produced water safely and compliantly , it could provide oil producers with a new asset to offer to market : water that is fit for agricultural purpose .
The numbers add up . Farmers typically buy fresh water at approximately 25 cents a barrel . Even taking into account a lower cost for recycled water – say 18 cents a barrel – it is now possible to perform the necessary processing for less than this amount for significant quantities of produced water , if not all of it . Even considering initial capital costs , when the difference is factored up by several million barrels a day , the results can be significant both for the operators and the farmers .
So what treatment is required in California ? Standards for agricultural use are less stringent , for many
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