WEST TEXAS WATER SUPPLY CORPORATION
Purpose of Company
West Texas Water Supply (WTWSC) is part of a public private partnership established to transport water from well fields in southern Val Verde County through a pipeline north and west to the Permian Basin of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico for use by municipalities and the petroleum industry.
Source of Water
Along the Texas-Mexican border in Val Verde County, Texas is the siphon terminus of an aquifer that extends updip over more than 12,000,000 acres (18,750 square miles). Rainfall is captured by the limestone aquifer over many decades and slowly migrates downdip where the aquifer outflows more than 500,000 acre feet of water annually (3.9 billion barrels or 163 billion gallons per year) in the area of the well field. Given the many decades of time for water to flow through the aquifer from its entry to exit the available water for use is virtually constant regardless of changes in rainfall during greater or lesser years of rainfall. WTWSC would utilize less than 20% of the annually available water. The extent and volume of water is documented by the United States Geological Survey, Texas Water Development Board as well as numerous other scientific organizations.
Means of Conveyance
Water produced from wells in Val Verde County is transported northward through approximately 400 miles of 48 inch diameter steel pipe internally and externally coated so that it may be permanently preserved using cathodic protection. Further augmenting the primary 48 inch line are a series of smaller distribution lines of 36, 30, and 24 inch diameter that will allow the pipeline system to reach more than 85% of the Permian Basin. Last mile of connection from the pipeline to where industry usage occurs is accomplished with rubberized flexible 12 inch “flat-line” that is deployed and retrieved using large reels each containing one mile of flat-line hose.
End Users in Need of Water
Many of the 20 plus counties of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico have only single towns within their boundaries with many having fewer than 5,000 inhabitants. Given the limited population and yet significant distances between towns, there is insufficient resources to acquire much needed water, and thus, they live on extremely limited volumes per person. The WTWSC water pipeline is a lifeline to these communities.
The large users of water in the Permian Basin are the exploration companies currently uncovering immense reserves of oil and gas. The average well currently uses more than 250,000 barrels of water and this volume is less than desired, but is a resultant of the limited supply of this precious resource in this desert environment. Currently the companies average payments of more than $2.00 per barrel for what limited water they can obtain. WTWSC can deliver at maximum flow rates through the pipeline system more than 2.5 million barrels per day, but this volume is still less than 40% of the current needs.
Cost and Repayment Timing
The cost of the water pipeline project equals $2.5 billion for emplacement of all components of the system. Water is acquired at the well field in Val Verde County and shipped north and then west to western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. While the well field is located at an elevation of approximately 1,200 feet of elevation the water must be pumped up to an elevation of 3,600 feet in southeastern New Mexico. Pumping is ever more demanding with greater flow-pumping rates with concurrent increases in electricity usage and the associated costs. The power demands for each of the 17 pumping stations along the pipeline system average in excess of 30,000 Kilowatts hourly, requiring WTWSC to design generating capabilities to support this volume of power usage.
No other source presently exists or is available to meet demands at the levels and quality available through the WTWSC system. Given the volumes of water that is available using the pipeline system, WTWSC looks forward to contributing to the success of the exploration-production companies in their pursuit of the vast reserves of the Permian Basin on the pathway to making the United States energy independent.
