The Cross Section, Volume 11, Number 4, September 1964 Page: 3
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September 1964 THE CROSS SECTION Page 3
A Farmers View Of Use Of Underground Water
Hardly 75 years ago, Hockley Coun-
ty and the South Plains area was a
rolling grassland that nomadic Indians
crossed only when the numerous playa
lakes contained a supply of drinking
water.
But with the advent of the wind-
mill, man began to enjoy and make
productive the rich land, first through
cattle and then through cultivation.
About 25 years ago, irrigation be-
came popular, and agriculture really
began to boom, with cotton and grain
sorghum making this area one of the
true farm belts of the nation.
About the same time irrigation be-
gan its rapid growth, oil was discover-
ed in rich quantities beneath Hockley
County and wide adjacent areas and
a new segment of the economy be-
gan its rise.
In the following 20 years, agricul-
ture continued its ballooning increase,
with the area especially earning its
niche in U. S. annals as an outstanding
cotton producing area. Agricultural
technology advanced steadily, helping
boost production more and more but
irrigation was the key - without
water there can be no crops.
During the same 20 years, oil tech-
nology advanced, also. Much of the
primary petroleum recovery in the
area was completed, and the industry
began eyeing the rich -yet apparent-
ly waning - supply of underground
water, thus far used basically for
agriculture and domestic uses, as an
aid to secondary recovery.
Hockley and neighboring counties
weren't a pioneer area for waterflood
oil recovery projects. Such practices
had been carried on earlier in other
oil production areas in which primary
recovery had faded.
Within the past five years, or less,
flooding operations have been started
more and more in the county, and
during the past year, the oil industry
has initiated a complete plan of re-
covery for the Levelland and Slaugh-
ter fields, utilizing water extracted
from oil in production and also, freshposes, the water immediately becom-
es contaminated and unfit for human
or plant use.
In a Feb. 7, 1964, speech to the
West Texas Water Conference in Lub-
bock, Kenneth Roberts, a represen-
tative of Texas Mid-Continent Oil and
Gas Assn., declared:
"... West Texas is extremely for-
tunate to have its economy sup-
ported by the petroleum producing
industry-an industry that requires
very little water. I can think of no
other business, industrial or non in-
dustrial, that could contribute so much
to the economy with such a small use
of water resources.
"During much of the life of an oil
field, there is practically no water
used in producing operations. At some
time during the life of a field, a water-
flood operation may be put into ef-
fect. In a minority of cases, fresh-
water may be used . . . However, even
at the time of peak water usage by
oil and gas producers during water-
floods, the value to the community of
fresh water use by the oil industry,
compared with the potential users of
the same quantity of water is ex-
tremely impressive.
To illustrate the every small usage
of water by such an important indus-
try, I . . . refer to t he 48-county area
overlying the Ogallala. This area is a
heavy oil-producing area, and statis-
tics, compiled from studies of this
area by petroleum industry engineers,
are available showing projected water
use by the oil industry.
. . . Approximately 96 to 98 per
cent of the water produced from the
Ogallala each year is used for irri-
gation, with the rest used for munici-
pal and industrial purposes. Projec-
ted needs of the oil industry for
Ogallala water for use in water flood
operations in this area reveal that
waterflooding will cause no signifi-
cant change in the relative use of
water by the various groups.
"These projections indicate thatproblem for some time, declares
"there are discrepancies" in oil
spokesman's figures.
He declares:
"One has only to realize the use
percentages quoted by Roberts are
figured for agriculture on a 48-county
area, and it is quite evident that oil
production is concentrated within
only very small areas of a 48-county
section.
"For example, on an acreage basis,
approximately one-fourth of Hockley
County has oil production. Those peo-
ple engaged in agriculture realized
the water available for irrigation is
very spotted and many areas are dry
so far as irrigation is concerned. Those
areas of irrigation are rapidly decreas-
ing in water production and weak
wells on the edge of irrigation belts
are constantly being abandoned as
unprofitable or dry.
"If the projected need of water by
the oil industry is six-tenths of one
per cent of all that is used in one
year for the 48 counties, consider
what will happen to the small bands
of irrigation near Sundown, Anton,
Ropesville and Smyer.
"Remember, too, that to reach a
total of irrigation water used in one
year for agriculture such counties
as Bailey, Deaf Smith, Hale and Floyd
have to be counted, These counties
have great supplies of irrigation water
and yet there is little or no oil pro-
duction to be waterflooded.
"In other words, that portion of the
six-tenths of one percent oil of all
irrigation water used which would
be applied to Hockley County alone
will certainly amount to a great per-
centage of total water available.
WEST TEXAS
MUSEUM PLANSWATER PROGRAM
Water, the Gold at the End of our
Rainbow? is the title for the October
8th program at the West Texas Mu-
seum in Lubbock.
A panel of specialists on under-
ground water, surface water, and fu-
ture sources of water for Texas will
pinpoint the economic value of water
to Lubbock residents and its trade
territory.
Moderator of the panel will be Dr.
Gerald Thomas, Dean of Agriculture,
Texas Tech and Chairman of the West
Texas Water Institute. Other members
of the panel will be Mr. Tom Mc-
Farland, Manager of the High Plains
Water District, Lubbock; Mr. Ed Reed,
Hydrologist and Consulting Engineer,
Midland; and Judge Otha F. Dent,
Member of the Texas Water Com-
mission, Austin.30,000 RESEARCH
GRANT AWARDED
TEXAS TECH
Texas Tech's agricultural engineer-
ing department received a $30,000 re-
search grant Friday (Sept. 18) from
the Electric Research Advisory Com-
mittee, composed primarily of key
representatives from electric coopera-
tives in Texas and New Mexico.
In accepting the grant, the first
Tech has received under the auspices
of the West Texas Water Institute,
Dr. R. C. Goodwin, Tech president,
said, "This research is vital to the
future of the High Plains because of
the increasing scarcity of water."
Tech's agriculture dean, Dr. Gerald
W. Thomas, joined Dr. Goodwin in
praising this grant.
"We are going to have to use what-
ever means we can to stimulate re-
search and education relating to water
use in West Texas," he said.
"Primarily, we are concerned with
making more efficient use of available
water supplies and planning programs
to promote sustained use of these
water resources so that succeeding
generations will also benefit from
them."
Dean Thomas added that this grant
recognizes the services of the Water
Institute in coordinating and stimu-
lating research and educational ac-
tivities.
"We also feel that it reflects the
confidence of the electric power in-
dustry in the ability of our agricul-
tural engineering department at Tech
to successfully conduct research of
this type," he said.
Dr. Willie Ulich, head of agricul-
tural engineering at Tech, and prin-
ciple investigator on this project dis-
closed that the research will cover athree-year period and will study
power requirements and efficiency
of High Plains irrigation well pumps
and power units.
"We plan to center this project at
Tech and work primarily on wells
within a 300-mile radius of Lubbock,"
he said.
Consultants from power cooperativ-
es, the U. S. Department of Agricul-
ture and the Rural Electrification Ad-
ministration will work with Dr. Ulich
and his staff.
Dr. Ulich outlined the objectives of
the research project.
"We hope to determine efficiencies
of irrigation pumps and power units
used on the High Plains; to determine
operational and maintenance charac-
teristics of power units under pre-
vailing Plains conditions; and to es-
tablish costs of pumping irrigation
by well classification by depth, capa-
city and power " he stated.water gained by three means:
1. Purchase of water rights.
2. Outright purchase of land to in-
clude water rights.
3. By permission of landowners
under lease agreements.
In the High Plains Underground
Water District, which includes much
of the South Plains the oil industry
has to secure water well permits from
the district board, and follow spacing
rules, even where water rights are
owned solely by the oil firms.
Hydrologists say that saline (salt
and-or sulfur) water can be obtained
in locations from 700 to 2,000 feet.
Conceivably, this water could be used
for well flooding. However, it is more
expensixe to use because of its depth
and also because it has a tendency to
clog a formation. Nonetheless some
saline or brackish water is being used
for flooding in areas where fresh
water is not available in quantities.
The oil industry does have the same
right to water as does agriculture.
However, when water is used for irri-
gation it still is in the natural cycle.
Some goes into the air by evapora-
tion. Most goes into the air by plant
transpiration.
A small amount can possibly seep
downward, but it is still above the
formation from which it originally
came.
Oil spokesmen say use of fresh
water would be relatively light.
But when used for waterflood pur-the use of Ogallala water by the pe-
troleum industry for waterfloods will
not exceed six-tenths of one per cent
of the total supply of Ogallala water.
The ultimate total usage by oil
Industry waterfloods r e p r e s e n t s
only about one-fourth of the total
Ogallala water currently produced in
one year. The total use of this water
by the petroleum industry for water
floods will shorten the projected 40-
year life of the Ogallala water supply
by only about three months.
. The anticipated development
of the various waterflood projects in
the fields overlying the Ogallala will
probably result in a peak usage by
the industry of Ogallala water from
1968 to 1974. During this period .. .
the oil industry's annual share of
Ogallala water should only represent
approximately eight-tenths of one
per cent of the volume produced each
year. After the end of this peak need,
our annual share of Ogallala water
should be only about four-tenths of
one per cent of annual production.
"... Even during the six-year per-
iod of peak usage by the industry,
our eight-tenths of one per cent is
not going to have any significant ef-
fect on either the total water pro-
duced or how the water is divided
among the various users."
Referring to the points made by
Roberts in the speech. Hockley Farm
bureau president 3. B. Harbin, who
has been studying the water depletionHIGH PLAINS WATER DISTRICT
b1628 - 15th Street
ILubbock, Texas
1 Gentlemen:
Will you please send me one of the District's new brochures entitled, "High
I Plains Water Depletion Case - Its Effect on Me and My Community." Send
I free of charge to the address shown below:
Name ----------------- -
Mailing Address ____ -
I City and State
PLEASE CLOSE THOSE ABANDONED WELLSSeptember 1 964
T HE CROSS S ECT ION
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High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1 (Tex.). The Cross Section, Volume 11, Number 4, September 1964, periodical, September 1964; Lubbock, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1532874/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.