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Wildcatting for Water: Unitization of

Megawatersheds, Transboundary Aquifers and Non-Renewable Groundwater

“Water is the oil of this century.”Dow Chemical Chair Andrew Liveris,

World Economic Forum, February, 2008

W. Todd JarvisProgram in Water Conflict Management and Transformation

Overview

Transboundary aquifers, “ t h d ” d bl“megawatersheds”, and non-renewable groundwaterPost-modern geohydrologic balance Unitization ConceptsExamples where it worksExamples where it worksConclusions

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270+ Transboundary Aquifers

WHYMAP (2006); updated 2008

BrownBrown –– Local and Shallow Bedrock Aquifers = Local and Shallow Bedrock Aquifers = 47%GreenGreen –– Complex Hydrogeological Structure = Complex Hydrogeological Structure = 18%BlueBlue –– Groundwater Basin = Groundwater Basin = 35%

Non-Renewable Groundwater –Damage to Aquifer Storage?

160180200

GPM

) Rated Well Capacity

2040

6080

100120140

Aver

age

Prod

uctio

n (G

Sn

ow

me

lt

Sn

ow

me

lt

Sn

ow

me

lt

Sn

ow

me

lt

Sn

ow

me

lt

1992 1994 1995 199619930

From Matyjasik, Yonkee and Jarvis (2002)

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Post-Modern Geohydrologic Balance: New Shareholders for Groundwater

Climate Change Changes inLand Use &

PumpageWater

Manufacturing/Conservation

Contamination

Baseflow-Ecosystem-Spirituality

Maintenance

Virtual WaterImports/Exports

Cover

CarbonSequestration

Diagram adapted from Ragone (2007)

GW and SWInflows

GW and SWOutflowsNet GW Availability

MaintenanceSequestration

Oil business terminologyConsolidation of all, or a large percentage of royalty or participating interests, in a “pool” as will permit

What is Unitization?

or participating interests, in a pool as will permitreservoir engineers to plan operation of the pool.

In the case of groundwater“…government-mandated unitization of groundwater …

is a solution to excessive access and drawdown … a single “unit operator” extracts from and develops thesingle unit operator extracts from and develops the reservoir. All other parties share in the net returns as

share holders.” Gary Libecap (2005)

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Types of Unitization

Voluntary Units – agreements among interested parties which can be undertaken for exploration or conservation

Compulsory or Conservation Units – requires high level of knowledge of physical characteristics of the “pool”g p y p

Probably the biggest challenge, but not insurmountable

Oil Units – based on subsurface faults, permeability

The Boundary Issue

Oil Units based on subsurface faults, permeability barriers, assured productive limits of reservoir

Diagram from Kumar (2007)

Adaptive mgmt. with new data

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“Bona fide” Boundariesin “the Commons”

“Fiat” Boundaries in “the Hydrocommons”

Geographic Boundaries in Groundwater

GroundwaterDomains

SpiritualTherapeutic

Land RightsDrainage Area or Capture Area

Radius of InfluenceWHPA, SWPA, “Belts”

Conservation AreaSole Source Aquifer AreaEU “Groundwater Bodies”

Control / Mgmt. Area

OutcropWatercourse

Catchment, WatershedMegawatershed

Springshed Recharge ZoneDischarge Zone

No-recharging Aquifers

“Fiat” Boundariesin “the Common Heritage”

TherapeuticHistorical

Hydrogeological-Nature Reserves

MegawatershedsUnitization

GW EcosystemsChemical “Facies”

Blurring the BoundariesNegotiation

StageCommon

Water Claims

Collaborative Skills

Geographic Scope

Core Motive Influencing

Decision Making

Adversarial Rights Trust-building Nations Institutions

Reflexive Needs Skills-building Watersheds Information

Integrative Benefits Consens s “Benefit Incenti esIntegrative Benefits Consensus-building

“Benefit-sheds”

Incentives

Action Equity Capacity-building

Region Identity

Adapted from Jarvis and Wolf (in press)

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The real benefit is in the emerging use of managed recharge applications – i.e., Kumamoto, Japan

Benefits of Unitization?

Dispute prevention instead of conflict resolution, i.e.,Well interference issues and costs minimized –• SNWA vs. Utah and the recent $4 Million “payoff”;• World Bank Andhra Pradesh Drought Adaptation Initiativeand the “sharing” of groundwater between rich and poor

Increase private investment in ASR and non-renewable groundwater Similar to secondary and tertiary oil recoverygroundwater - Similar to secondary and tertiary oil recovery operations

May promote groundwater exploration and development on federal lands because of success of oil unitization

Federal and State

Threats to Groundwater Unitization

Federal and State “Anti-Trust” Laws

Unit sharing arrangementsand negotiations

Subsurface geotechnical interpretationsinterpretations

“Guerilla Well-fare” Dueling Expert Situations

Adapted from Jarvis (2010)

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ConclusionsUnitization of groundwater is a pro-market approach to preventing disputes over water resources and increasing water availabilityincreasing water availability.

Unitization of groundwater may lessen damage to the storativity of hard rock aquifers.

Unitization “concepts” are currently applied nationally and internationally for groundwater exploitation and managed recharge and mayserve as one model to implementing the UN Law of Transboundary Aquifers

Thank you for your attention.