ARVADA - Soils take on the characteristics of the materials applied to them.

In agriculture, water has the biggest input. Each application of less-than-perfect water is like a tiny wound. It's not fatal alone, but a thousand tiny cuts can be lethal.

"They don't recognize the danger, but it's coming,' said Terry Dong.

Dong is a partner of Harmon Systems International. The company is conducting a "sulfur burning" water treatment project for coalbed methane producer JM Huber Corp. The process lowers the alkalinity of water so that it's more of a natural rain quality, Dong said.

The treated water is currently being used to irrigate alfalfa fields.

"You have 14 inches natural rain. Add another 20 inches of rain water and you can imagine what can be done," Dong said.

Dong is among a growing number of water resource specialists finding work in the Powder River Basin coalbed methane gas industry. The play is entering the Powder River area between Gillette and Sheridan where the production water doesn't react well with the saline surface soils.

The scope of the problem is big. The Bureau of Land Management estimated that the industry could extract a total of up to 7.5 trillion gallons, or 23 million acre-feet, of coalbed water to produce all of the recoverable coalbed methane reserves in the basin.

That's enough water to fill Flaming Gorge Reservoir five times over.

So what to do with all of that water?

Coalbed methane operators pour it into stock tanks, in-channel reservoirs, off-channel reservoirs and reservoirs in sands so that it infiltrates back into the ground. They also mist it, atomize it, re-inject it into the ground and spray it onto dusty roads.

When conditions permit, coalbed methane water can be used to irrigate alfalfa and other crops. But the biggest concentration of development is setting up in an area where the coalbed water and the dirt just don't mix together well. Dong said that by adjusting the characteristic of the water, it can provide a resource that ranchers usually have in limited supply.

"This water is beneficial. It should not be viewed as a waste or a byproduct," Dong said. "If (coalbed) water is amended … it will benefit everyone."

Sulfur burners

Sulfur burners look a little like a gin still. One unit is about six feet by six feet. They provide a controlled combustion process that oxidizes sulfur and produces acid. This lowers the pH of water passing through the burner.

The goal is to lower the sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) value of the coalbed water. Dong said a sulfur burner can treat production water from a group of about a dozen wells or more at a cost of "pennies on the barrel."

"It solves a problem for the producer. But if you can also show the end-user that this is a benefit, it should alleviate the major concern that surface owners have," Dong said.

Ion exchange

Another water treatment method being used in the Powder River region is ion exchange.

Sheridan-based EMIT Water Discharge Technology is pumping 13,000 barrels of production water per day through two Severn Trent Service Higgins Loop Continuous Ion Exchange units. Each unit consists of a huge U-shaped pipe where resin is introduced to the water. The resin removes sodium from the water, then both the sodium and resin are separated from the water.

What is left is a briny solution - about 100 barrels per day. It is trucked to an approved injection well site for disposal.

"We are removing sodium from the water, not adding anything to manipulate it," said Terry Olson, a manager for EMIT.

The water is used to irrigate alfalfa fields on the Rick Floyd ranch on Dead Horse Creek, a tributary to the Powder River. For irrigation, a SAR value of 6 or lower is optimal, according to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. Coalbed methane water coming out of the Big George coal seam in this region can range from an SAR 8 to more than 25.

Olson said the ion exchange system here is lowering the SAR value to 1. The cost largely depends on the SAR value - how much sodium they need to pull from the water. Olson said the cost can range from fewer than 10 cents per barrel to more than 25 cents per barrel.

"We've got a lot of other producers looking at (the Higgins Loop system)," Olson said.

The two units here each have a capacity of 200 gallons per minute. EMIT is currently constructing three larger units at a shop in Casper.

"Industry is asking us to go bigger," Olson said.