Huge Aquifers Discovered Deep Under Drought-Stricken California

discover ^ | 06/27/2016 | Nathaniel Scharping

[BenLurkin]

The researchers compiled data from the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, which tracks oil and gas wells around the state. Researchers determined if water had been detected while drilling, and also gathered data about depth, salinity and pressure. After looking at 360 oil and gas fields spread across eight counties, the researchers say that they’ve documented a trove of fresh water just over half the size of Lake Michigan hidden in California’s bedrock 1,000 to nearly 10,000 feet below the surface.

This is almost three times more groundwater than what was indicated in previous studies, many conducted over 20 years ago, and which stopped at a depth of 1,000 feet. Water any deeper than that was considered too expensive to retrieve, and could remain out of reach for the foreseeable future. While the survey extended to around 10,000 feet, the researchers say that much of the water lies closer to the surface, around 3,000 feet deep. The researchers published their work Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

...

Tapping into these reservoirs would be expensive, given how deep they are, but could provide a desperately sought-after answer to the water crisis. Doing so may entail curtailing drilling activities in some regions, however, an option that would likely prove unpopular among the many oil and gas companies already operating in the area.

[Political Junkie Too]

Water any deeper than that was considered too expensive to retrieve...

They'll get right on it as soon as they finish the bullet train.

-PJ

[null and void]

And electricity magically appears anywhere there is an outlet.

It doesn’t cost anything to charge your Tesla, either...

[crusty old prospector]

OK, use windmills, solar panels, and pixie dust. Last time I checked, electricity was not in short supply to run a series of pumps.

[sheana]

We went to a popular kids pizza place for my grandson’s birthday. Everywhere I looked....Mexicans. We were definitely the minority.

[lacrew]

Its the energy cost of pumping the water to the surface that is prohibitive. This is actually a good use for a windmill (one of the original uses of a windmill), since the need to pump water isn’t instantaneous.

[crusty old prospector]

San Antonio gets the majority of its water from a series of submersible pumps in the Edwards Aquifer. Albeit, the wells are only around 500’ deep but it can be done. It is more of a cavernous limestone with infinite permeability. I am not sure what flow capacity the California aquifers have.

[null and void]

If the costs of power and of infrastructure required to raise a gallon of water 3000 ft. (about 1000 whp) adds $0.001 to the cost of the gallon, it's not economically feasible.

How to calculate the energy costs here.

Note they cost out diesel at .65¢/gallon...

Last time I checked, California was shutting down their last nuclear power plant, and several fossil fuel plants.

[HotKat]

Invest in high speed rail, rather than water.

[HotKat]

Invest in high speed rail, rather than water.

[null and void]

I am not sure what flow capacity the California aquifers have.

Me neither, but IIRC the central valley used to be an inland sea, and I wouldn't be too surprised if there are limestone formations under it.

Still, by reducing the demand (purging illegal immigrants), improving water use efficiency, and damming the damned rivers to conserve and even out the flow, the existing resources would ultimately be cheaper and more effective.

The deep aquifers can always be kept as a future reserve, the techniques to extract will only improve over time.

[Shanghai Dan]

Dunno where the estimate of drilled water came from, it didn’t come from California! My rate STARTS at $0.003 per gallon and goes up after I pass 4000 gallons (Ventura County).

Yes, desalination is about 1/3rd the price of water right now, in California. And we have a REALLY BIG BODY of it within a stone’s throw of my home. But we can’t do that, because desalination creates brine discharge and everyone KNOWS that putting salty brine into the ocean is a bad thing! /sarc

[rfreedom4u]

Don’t tell the EPA! They’ll just contaminate it.

[rfreedom4u]

They could benefit from reducing their golf courses.

1. More water for other things.
2. Less chance obama will come to golf.

[Shanghai Dan]

Here in Ventura County we pay a graduated rate for water that STARTS at $0.003 per gallon and goes up from there. The energy cost is low compared to the price for water in the first place.

[arl295]

A lot of municipal wells are 3,000 feet deep

Its all doable

Just want to do it, which California would rather complain about the drought then fix their problems. Liberals are weird like that, they love to complain

[csmusaret]

Yeah...From Madera to Shafter

[RFEngineer]

“Drill down or desalinate. Pretty simple.”

Oh, would it only be so!

The problem with desalination is that it requires a lot of electrical power. Since California has exiled coal and nuclear successfully, and they don’t like transmission lines, they are left with two choices:

Do you want water or do you want lights? You can have either, but never both at the same time.

[SunkenCiv]

...a trove of fresh water just over half the size of Lake Michigan hidden in California’s bedrock 1,000 to nearly 10,000 feet below the surface.

There are a few problems of course -- drilling wells to tap into that water would be quintessentially white privilege behavior; from a physical standpoint, removing the water would NOT cause earthquakes, although if that were oil, it would!; and fresh water vapor causes climate change. Thanks BenLurkin.

Amazingly, the earths water is really a miniscule amount [thanks central_va]

[lacrew]

Pumping water is not unique at...its done all over the place...just not regularly at 3,000 feet depth.

Technically, its very possible - oil depths are sometimes measured in miles.

Its just a cost thing. In my neck of the woods (Kansas), wells are 400-1,000 feet, and the cost is a huge factor at those depths.

[karnage]

Water wells that deep are routine in the Middle East.