URF: Protecting our Water Resources
Protection from Groundwater
1. The ERCB requires that casing in wells be cemented to protect groundwater resources. This creates a barrier between the well, including the produced fluids within, and all adjacent groundwater sources outside the wellbore. This ensures wellbore integrity, the isolation of shallow aquifers, and prevention of cross-flow contamination when completing and operating wells for production or injection. ERCB requirements are also in place to ensure that wells that have been fractured are properly abandoned.
Directive 008: Surface Casing Depth Requirements
This directive sets out minimum surface casing depth requirements, conditions required for setting deep surface casing, and additional requirements for specific areas in the province.Directive 009: Casing Cementing Minimum Requirements
This directive sets out the requirements for casing cement, including methods for determining cement tops, and the use of special cements such as foam and thermal cements.View these Directives within the Drilling & Completion section of the PROJECT LIFECYCLE
Directive 020: Well Abandonment
This directive sets out the requirements and planning process for well abandonments in Alberta. Groundwater protection requirements when abandoning a well are in Section 5.5. It requires that all nonsaline groundwater intervals be covered by cement. To protect groundwater, licensees must identify and isolate the base of groundwater protection from the hydrocarbon formations below, as well as identify and isolate all protected intervals above the base of groundwater protection.
View this Directive within the Suspension& Abandonment section of the PROJECT LIFECYCLE
2. The ERCB regulates the management and storage of fracturing fluids to prevent soil, groundwater, and surface water contamination. This also reduces the potential for spills and, therefore, more effective reclamation of the site.
Directive 050: Drilling Waste Management
This directive provides a comprehensive overview of methods for drilling waste disposal on land and information on the associated notification, approvals, sampling, and toxicity assessment.View this Directive within the Drilling & Completion section of the PROJECT LIFECYCLE
Directive 055: Storage Requirements for the Upstream Petroleum Industry
This directive sets out the requirements for the storage of materials produced, generated (including wastes), and used in the upstream petroleum industry. The primary containment devices it addresses include aboveground and underground tanks, containers, lined earthen excavations, and bulk pads. It also addresses secondary containment, leak detection, spill prevention and loss control, and weather protection systems, as well as operating procedures, maintenance practices, and inspection programs to maintain the containment systems.View this Directive within the Production & Operations section of the PROJECT LIFECYCLE
Directive 058: Oilfield Waste Management Requirements for the Upstream Petroleum Industry
This directive outlines regulatory requirements for the handling, treatment, and disposal of upstream oilfield waste. It gives a comprehensive overview of oilfield waste characterization, classification, manifesting, tracking, and management requirements.
View these Directives within the Drilling & Completion or Production & Operations sections of the PROJECT LIFECYCLE
3. The ERCB promotes reduction of waste and reuse, recycle, reduce and recovery principles through a combination of requirements and site-specific approvals. Fluids that cannot be recycled or reused must be re-injected and disposed into rock formations that are capable of receiving and containing fluids deep underground, far below groundwater sources.
Directive 051: Injection and Disposal Wells - Well Classifications, Completions, Logging, and Testing Requirements
The ERCB promotes reduction of waste and reuse, recycle, reduce and recovery principles through a combination of requirements and site-specific approvals. Fluids that cannot be recycled or reused must be re-injected and disposed into rock formations that are capable of receiving and containing fluids deep underground, far below groundwater sources.View this Directive within the Drilling & Completion section of the PROJECT LIFECYCLE
4. If a spill of fluid occurs, the notification requirements for the ERCB and Alberta Environment are in Informational Letter 98-1.
IL 98-1: Memorandum of Understanding between Alberta Environmental Protection and the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board regarding coordination of release notification requirements and subsequent regulatory response
5. The ERCB requires that licensees submit the components of fracturing fluids as part of its well data collection process.
Directive 059: Well Drilling and Completion Data Filing Requirements
This directive requires well licensees to file records and reports of daily operations on wells that are in the process of being drilled, completed, reconditioned, or abandoned. The ERCB collects the data to maintain an accurate record of each well drilled in the province both for its own use and for the use of the oil and gas industry in performing drilling and servicing operations in a safe and efficient manner.View this Directive within the Data Requirements section of the PROJECT LIFECYCLE
6. The amount of water needed for hydraulic fracturing depends on the characteristics of the rock and the drilling program being implemented. Water for a fracturing operation can come from a variety of sources, such as a town supply, shallow or deep licensee-sourced water wells, dugouts, sloughs, creeks, lakes, or rivers or from produced (saline) water of nearby oil and gas operations. For surface access to nonsaline water, permission from the appropriate parties, such as landowners, municipalities, cities, and Alberta Sustainable Resource Development is required. Companies are encouraged to use produced (saline) water when possible and to treat and reuse flowback water for future fracturing.
A licence from Alberta Environment issued in accordance with the Water Act is required for all diversions (e.g., withdrawals, storage) of nonsaline water, subject to some exemptions. Typical diversions include temporary water diversions for hydrostatic testing, drilling fluid, and dust control. For more information, on the Water Act, see the descriptions of authorizations in the Upstream Oil and Gas Authorizations and Consultations Guide on the ERCB website www.ercb.ca.
7. The ERCB monitors and sets out requirements for water production in hydrocarbon wells completed above the base of groundwater protection to ensure that potential environmental issues related to crossflow between varying water qualities and production of nonsaline water are properly addressed.
Directive 044: Requirements for the Surveillance, Sampling and Analysis of Water Production in Oil and Gas Wells Completed Above the Base of Groundwater Protection (BGWP)
This directive sets out the requirements for well licensees, and the steps the ERCB will take, if any a well with completions above the base of groundwater protection produces total water volumes equal to, or greater than, 30 cubic metres per calendar month.For more detailed information on base of groundwater protection, see ST-55: Alberta's Usable Groundwater Base of Groundwater Protection Information and/or EUB Bulletin 2007-10: ST55-2007: Alberta's Base of Groundwater Protection (BGWP) Information.
View this Directive within the Production & Operations section of the PROJECT LIFECYCLE
Directive 036: Drilling Blowout Prevention Requirements and Procedures
Section 19.1 prohibits the use of oil-based drilling fluids (or any other potentially toxic drilling additive) when drilling above the base of groundwater protectionView this Directive within the Drilling & Completion section of the PROJECT LIFECYCLE
Protection of Water Wells
1. For shallow fracturing operations, ERCB regulations prohibit the use of toxic fracture fluids above the base of groundwater protection to reduce the risk of contamination. The Base of Groundwater Protection refers to a depth of 15 m below the bottom of the geological formation containing the deepest non-saline aquifer. The ERCB also prohibits fracturing within a 200-metre lateral distance of a water well and regulates fracturing pressure to reduce the potential for shallow fracturing to impact or interfere with aquifers or water wells.
Directive 027: Shallow Fracturing Operations - Restricted Operations
This directive sets out the requirements and restrictions for shallow fracturing operations. This includes the minimum assessment requirements for fracturing operations less than 200 metres deep. Shallow fracturing of a proposed well is prohibited within a 200-metre lateral distance of a water well and within a 50-metre vertical distance below the depth of the water well.
For more detailed information on base of groundwater protection, see ST-55: Alberta’s Usable Groundwater Base of Groundwater Protection Information and/or EUB Bulletin 2007-10: ST55-2007: Alberta’s Base of Groundwater Protection (BGWP) Information.
View this Directive within the Production & Operations section of the PROJECT LIFECYCLE
2. For coalbed methane (CBM) wells completed above the base of groundwater protection, the ERCB requires that applicants offer to test water wells within a defined radius before conducting activity. This establishes a baseline level of water quality and quantity before CBM activity occurs. Once CBM activity has taken place, any changes in these levels can be compared with the baseline.
Directive 035: Baseline Water Well Testing Requirement for Coalbed Methane Wells Completed Above the Base of Groundwater Protection
This directive modifies the ERCB well licence and recompletion requirements for CBM wells completed above the base of groundwater protection. The ERCB also encourages oil and gas companies to continue collecting data on baseline water quantity and quality for water wells near any energy development, not just for CBM wells, before drilling and to submit these data to Alberta Environment.View this Directive within the Applications section of the PROJECT LIFECYCLE