A Study of Oil-Well Brine Disposal

Abstract

The development of adequate water resources for the Mid-Continent area of the United States presents certain problems that are peculiar to an interior region. Coastal states with population centers between the highland water catchment areas and the ocean find it possible to secure a practically pure water from sparcely inhabited collection areas and to dispose of the used water with comparative ease into the ocean or rivers not needed for use as sources of water supply. Uninhabited areas that can be developed for water catchment are not available in the Mid-Continent region. Surface streams must provide the major source of municipal water supply and at the same time serve as the natural drainage channels of the valleys through which they pass. Uncontaminated sources of surface water are not geologically or economically possible. While ground water storage is sufficient for the requirements of many small cities, unfortunately, from a water resource standpoint, extensive industrial development has taken place in areas where the underground storage is wholely inadequate to yield supplies large enough to meet community and industrial demand. Since the streams that provide the natural drainage must receive the domestic and industrial wastes of the tributary area and at the same time serve as the source of water supply for the lower valley, it follows that these streams must be maintained in such physical and chemical condition that potable water can be produced with the aid of modern water-treatment