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Kane plans to sell sewer effluent for well drilling |
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Written by Publisher
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Tuesday, 16 March 2010 |
The “Ides of March” was not a good day for emperor Julius Caesar, but it could turn out to be a very beneficial time for Kane sewer customers.
Meeting Monday – the date of the “Ides of March” on the Roman calendar, the Kane Borough Sewer Authority appeared receptive to a plan to sell sewer-plant effluent to Seneca Resources.
A division of National Fuel Gas, Seneca intends to use the effluent in the drilling of deep Marcellus Shale gas wells in the area.
Effluent is the treated water discharged from Kane’s two sewage treatment plants – one on Pine Street and the Kinzua facility on Route 321 just north of Kane.
According to a report given by Phil Lingenfelter, the foreman for the sewage treatment plants, more than 700,000 gallons of effluent is discharged daily from the two plants in “dry weather.”
Jim Salvamoser, chairman of the five-member authority, endorses the plan to sell the effluent to Seneca Resources.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Salvamoser said Monday. “It may give us a good source of revenue.”
Lingenfelter said he still is talking with Seneca about the proposal. He said a price for the effluent has not been set. He said the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been made aware of the proposal and has not ruled against the effluent sale.
“DEP thinks it’s a great idea,” he told the authority.
Lingenfelter said Seneca already has drilled one Marcellus Shale well in the area and is in the process of drilling another. He said the company plans to drill more wells in the future.
“They need water and lots of it,” Lingenfelter said. He said Seneca has been buying water from Pennsylvania American Water in Kane.
He said preliminary plans call for the authority to first provide effluent from its Kinzua plant because “it’s out of the way.”
“It will be a good trial to see how this will play out,” Lingenfelter told the board.
If all goes well, the authority could also sell water from the Pine Street plant, he said.
According to Lingenfelter, Seneca is seeking between four million and seven million gallons of water for each of its wells in the Marcellus Shale. Since a water-carrying truck holds 4,000 gallons, there will be a convoy to haul the effluent from Kane to the well sites in the area.
Lingenfelter said Seneca is required to complete a “water management” report for DEP, which monitors the drilling of the wells. He said the report will include Kane as a source of its water, if the deal goes through.
“I think it’s a good thing,” Lingenfelter told the board. “I think we can make some money at it.”
As he pointed out, the effluent now is simply “going down the creek” after treatment in the sewage plants.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 10 April 2010 )
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