A Study of the Base of Fresh Water in the Southern San Joaquin Basin, California

O'Bryan, Patrick L.

doi:10.2118/24084-ms

Cited by 3 publications

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“…This approach can be used to map the salinity distribution of groundwater within the aquifer as well as the presence of relatively higher salinity oil field produced waters in groundwater in proximity to oil fields and to determine movement of disposal water over time. The use of geophysical logs to map groundwater salinity is well established and has been used in areas of Texas [9], Utah [10] and, on a more regional scale, in the San Joaquin basin [6,7,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping aquifer salinity gradients and effects of oil field produced water disposal using geophysical logs: Elk Hills, Buena Vista and Coles Levee Oil Fields, San Joaquin Valley, California

Gillespie

Stephens

Chang³

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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The effects of oil and gas production on adjacent groundwater quality are becoming a concern in many areas of the United States. As a result, it has become increasingly important to identify which aquifers require monitoring and protection. In this study, we map the extent of groundwater with less than 10,000 mg/L TDS both laterally and vertically near the Elk Hills, Buena Vista and Coles Levee Oil Fields in the San Joaquin Valley, California and note evidence of effects of produced water disposal on salinity within the Tulare aquifer. Subsurface maps showing the depth at which groundwater salinity is less than 10,000 mg/L (or Base 10K) in the Tulare aquifer are generated using geophysical logs and verified by comparison to water sample analyses. The depth to Base 10K ranges from 240 m (800 ft) in Elk Hills to 800 m (2650 ft) in the adjacent Buena Vista syncline and is 670 m (2,200 ft) deep in the Coles Levee area to the east. Log-calculated salinities show a relatively smooth increase with depth prior to disposal activities whereas salinities calculated from logs collected near and after disposal activities show a more variable salinity profile with depth. The effect of produced water injection is represented by log resistivity profiles that change from low resistivity at the base of the sand to higher resistivity near the top due to density differences between the saline produced water and the brackish groundwater within each sand. Continued post-disposal logging in new wells in the 18G disposal area on the south flank of Elk Hills shows that injected water has migrated approximately 1,200 m (4,000 ft) downdip (south) over a period of 20 years since the inception of disposal activity.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping aquifer salinity gradients and effects of oil field produced water disposal using geophysical logs: Elk Hills, Buena Vista and Coles Levee Oil Fields, San Joaquin Valley, California

Gillespie

Stephens

Chang³

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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“…Generally, the upper limit for fresh water to be used as drinking water for humans is taken to be 1,000 mg/L (California State Water Resources Control Board, 2017;United States Geological Survey, 2019). In the widely-used BFW estimates completed in 1971 and 1973 (Page, 1971;Berkstresser, 1973) and more recent updates (O'Bryan, 1992), fresh water is defined as water with <2,000 mg/L TDS. California's Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) [now California Geologic Energy Management (CalGEM)] formerly used TDS concentration <3,000 mg/L for their BFW estimates (Davis et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although there are multiple GSAs (The Country of Fresno, 2019;Davids Engineering Inc., 2020;Dee Jaspar and Associates, Inc., et al, 2020;GEI Consultants, Inc., and Kern Groundwater Authority, 2020;Luhdorff and Scalmanini and California Department of Water Resources, 2020;San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors GSA, 2020;Semitropic Water Storage District, 2020) that specifically cite the USGS-estimated BFW (Page, 1971;Berkstresser, 1973;O'Bryan, 1992) for determination of the vertical basin boundaries (Kang et al, 2020), studies also suggest there are likely substantial volumes of fresh and usable water in groundwater aquifers not included by using the USGS-estimated BFW (Kang and Jackson, 2016). Given California Senate Bill 4 and previous research (Gillespie et al, 2017(Gillespie et al, , 2019Metzger and Landon, 2018;Stephens et al, 2019;Ball et al, 2020), one potential alternative approach is the use of the base of brackish water, where brackish water is usually defined as water with TDS concentrations <10,000 mg/L but greater than fresh water.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges to the Use of a Base of Fresh Water in Groundwater Management: Total Dissolved Solids vs. Depth Across California

Warrack

Kang

2021

Front. Water

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According to the California Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, the bottom of a basin, and subsequently the depth to which groundwater is managed, can be defined through physical or geochemical qualities of the aquifer. Total dissolved solids (TDS) concentrations are most frequently used to define the basin bottom. However, upper limits in TDS concentrations for “fresh” and “useable” groundwater can range from 1,000 to 10,000 mg/L. To evaluate the applicability of using TDS concentrations to delineate depths subject to sustainable groundwater management, we analyze 216,754 TDS measurements throughout the state of California. We find major challenges to reasonably estimating the BFW with our dataset in 73% of California due to data insufficiencies or complexity introduced by non-montonic TDS-depth relationships. We estimate the BFW in 22% of the Central Valley, a key agricultural region with large groundwater demands and many critically overdrafted groundwater subbasins. Using a TDS limit of 3,000 mg/L, where possible, we estimate the shallowest BFW in the Central Valley to be 155 m below ground surface and the deepest BFW to be 589 m below ground surface. We find that the base of brackish water (TDS < 10,000 mg/L) can extend more than 500 m deeper than the BFW in 78% of the Central Valley where we are able to estimate the BFW, which corresponds to 2% of California. There is a need to evaluate alternative strategies for defining groundwater subject to sustainable management, which likely involves additional measurements and analysis to better characterize groundwater quality with depth throughout California.

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Groundwater salinity in the southern San Joaquin Valley

Gillespie¹,

Kong²,

Anderson³

2017

Bulletin

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Water salinity in the San Joaquin Valley is a function of depth, location, and stratigraphy. This paper presents a reconnaissance study of water salinity within Kern County, California, using chemical analyses from oil field produced water and water wells as well as geophysical logs. Log analysis indicates that the base of underground sources of drinking water (USDWs) (<10,000 mg/L) slopes from northwest to southeast. Lab analyses show that USDWs extend to depths as great as 1900 m (6233.5 ft) southeast of Bakersfield. This area receives the greatest amount of fresh water recharge from streams flowing westward from the Sierras. The marine Olcese Sand is more saline than the overlying and underlying aquifers and separates the aquifers into an upper and lower USDW. Log analysis also indicates a zone of higher salinity separating zones of lower salinity in this area. Salinities in the west are higher, and depths to base USDW are variable. Although waters in many sands in the western valley are more saline than 3000 ppm total dissolved solids (TDS), numerous wells contain waters between 3000 and 10,000 ppm at depths of less than 600 m (1968.5 ft), particularly in the nonmarine Tulare Formation. At North Belridge field, a salinity reversal is apparent below 2100 m (6890 ft). Waters above this depth are approximately 40,000 mg/L TDS, whereas water salinities below 2200 m (7218 ft) range from 10,000 to 32,000 mg/L. Extremely high salinities are found in several wells less than 30 m (98 ft) deep, primarily in the northwestern area. These may be perched aquifers or lie adjacent to unmapped agricultural drainage sumps and do not reflect salinities in the regional aquifer.

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A Study of the Base of Fresh Water in the Southern San Joaquin Basin, California

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Mapping aquifer salinity gradients and effects of oil field produced water disposal using geophysical logs: Elk Hills, Buena Vista and Coles Levee Oil Fields, San Joaquin Valley, California

Mapping aquifer salinity gradients and effects of oil field produced water disposal using geophysical logs: Elk Hills, Buena Vista and Coles Levee Oil Fields, San Joaquin Valley, California

Challenges to the Use of a Base of Fresh Water in Groundwater Management: Total Dissolved Solids vs. Depth Across California

Groundwater salinity in the southern San Joaquin Valley

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