Water Watchers (The fourth Horseman)
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| Water Watchers (The fourth Horseman) | Posted on Dec 3 2008 at 1:20am by |
| One important issue in Canada, for that matter the global village, that needs to be addressed is the protection of watersheds. For example in Alberta, it is the source of water for Western Canada. Moreover, the key step is changing policy & laws regarding watersheds, aquifers and water tables is global. It is imperative that we are informed about the damage of what oil, gas and mining exploration can do to surface and subsurface water. As my background speaks volumes, may not be scientific, but it is quantifiable & packs a worthy knowledge base, which should not be taken lightly. I was raised in a water well drilling business in Southern Alberta, Canada, a business that ran for 3 generations and lasted 56 years. As well, we had a vested interest in a 26,000 acre ranch as well as farming. As a family, we grew to become walking water encyclopedias since we have done water drilling and consulting for many years. Ranching was in our soul and our bloodline, so yes we are all cowboys and horseman at heart even though the ranch has been gone for many years. Let me speak with some horse sense, which should, in some circles, translate to common sense. It was completely natural to dowse for water and at the age of 4, I was following in my father's footsteps to find underground water aquifers, as such my first super hero was Mosses whom struck the rock with a divining rod or staff & found water in biblical times. I have hands on experience and have serviced Alberta in many capacities. When I left the water drilling business, I began to work in the Alberta Oil Patch for many years. My father was a man that taught me about the environment, glacial impacts, watersheds, flows, restoration, and how underground aquifers were charged by glaciers in the mountains. I grew to understand how the process of drilling for oil and gas was destroying the environment, both surface & subsurface. The damage is done through the process of commingling of water aquifers through the drilling process. The drilling rigs pump water into aquifers thereby contaminating the aquifer by also allowing the upper levels of water to flow downward into the drilling zone. As the chemistry is altered, the commingled impurities change the water quality. In the drilling process, there are over 300 chemicals in the drilling mud process that are introduced into the drilling zone aquifers. You do not want any of these chemicals in your breakfast cereal or your drinking water for that matter. The key ingredient is bentonite, a clay-based additive that thickens drilling mud additives or changes the mud weight that helps to get the drilling zone formation out of the drilled well just like a positive hydraulic flow system. In order to keep drilling the mud pump, pressurizes the drilling fluid down the center of the drilling pipe that has a drilling bit used to bore and penetrate the strata formation until the targeted drilling zone is reached. Until this happens, the solid formation cuttings must be carried under upward pressure, between the drill pipe & the down hole well wall, even the time it takes for the cuttings to come from the deepest point of penetration in the drilled hole & brought back to the surface for disposal and sampling is under scrutiny & engineered. By utilizing this process, an engineer or a geologist is able to analyze these samples to determine the porosity, chemical composition, ph & benzene levels of the target-drilling zone. The reason for this is that the engineered mud must be monitored for its viscosity (flow rate and weight), key chemical composition, in order not to mask the targeted chemistry of the drilling zone formation. The farther down the well, the heavier the mud must be to bring the formation sample cuttings up to the surface. The chemistry is crucial throughout the drilling process. Drilling mud has many purposes but the key purpose is to keep water aquifers from altering the down hole chemistry, they do this by plugging them off. The alkalinity is crucial, so when engineered, the integrity of well walls stand up and do not collapse on the drilling rods or drill stems to get the tools in and out of the hole for bit or tool changes. The travesty is that these chemicals are never pumped out of the subsurface environment but rather left to leach, contaminate, commingle and poison the water aquifers and water tables. Unfortunately, this is a common practice all over the world not just in Alberta. The average drilled well has about a semi-truck trailer of bentonite, lime (used to speed up the thickening process), as well as hundreds of other chemicals for other purposes in the drilling process, especially when large aquifers are hit in the down hole well. I have seen it happen, which drives the drilling costs through the roof. The drilling fluids are lost down hole into the aquifers, at large volumes sometimes, and truckloads are dumped into the drilling fluids until the blind hole in the well side wall is plugged up with tons of 50 lb bags. As many as 3-5 semi trailers of mud technology can be used to save an oil or gas well, in extreme circumstances to plug off an aquifer. Sometimes it is good potable water coming in at thousands & or millions of gallons per minute. Sometimes the unwanted water is saline or has harsh chemistry so the mud will not thicken and as a result, more chemicals are added to accomplish this task. These chemicals are not breakfast friendly or drinking water friendly as they are reactive and poisonous to human and animal chemistry. In the average well, there are 6 or more aquifers plugged off by the drilling process and polluted as a result. Keep in mind that these chemicals are not biodegradable by any stretch of the imagination. Visualize puss pockets leached with toxic chemicals, sitting in key aquifers, the water chemistry is altered forever. The average depth of an oil and gas well is about 2400 feet, or roughly 800 meters but in other parts of the world, the depths can be shallower. The reality is that it leaves a lot of water zones exposed to potential pestilence and disruption. Remember outside water sources are a nuisance to this drilling procedure where the chemistry and volumes are an exact science with huge technological advances. Why don't they use nanotechnology to clean up after themselves? Is nanotechnology the way of the future that will allow us to put the balance back into the bowels of the earth? Is this science fiction or the future of environmental restoration, a process we need to channel toward the negative impacts Mother Earth has experienced over that last 100 years? Explore the Venus Project; http://www.thevenusproject.com/ http://www.elabs.au Believe it or not the technology does indeed exist. As a matter of a fact the average cost of an oil and gas well cost is about .5 to 1.4 million dollars per well depending on the depth. About $100,000.00 to $400,000.00 is spent on mud technology to reach the target drilling zones that are all for the most part hazardous to one’s body, lungs, eyes, and are not good for drinking water aquifers. The next phase is casing the well to keep the integrity of the drilling zone in tact. Then, as if that was not bad enough, the drilling zone is cemented from the top bottom up to the surface on the outside of the casing thereby permanently plugging off the freshly drilled, commingled, polluted aquifers that just happened to be in the downward path of the drilled well. To develop the oil or gas well, the fracking/acid crews are called in to develop the target zone on the perforated steel casing that is pressurized with the latest in sandblasting technology where they use caustic chemicals to burn through the cement plug in the target development zone. Water, under any circumstance in the development process, is not good for oil or gas well production. This alone violates the Alberta Water Act that prohibits the commingling of aquifers or water tables. The trouble is, not one drilling company or oil and gas company has ever been charged for violating the Water Act since its inception. Coincidence? We think not. Oil and gas exploration companies have had a free pass on the nearly 600,000 wells drilled to date in Alberta over the last 100 years. This is why water wells in the central corridor and on the eastern Alberta/ Saskatchewan border are going dry. Since it takes about 100 years for water to run from the Continental Divide to the Saskatchewan border, in subsurface of underground aquifers, the timing is perfect for this to be revealed to the public. The Government of Alberta and the Federal Government of Canada gets royalties for these developed oil and gas wells, as does other government bodies through out the global village. They do not want the general public to be aware of the devastation of subsurface aquifers. The reason for this is that they might be found liable for many illnesses of humans and animals alike because the water for the most part are toxic in this day and age. This is true for water wells in most oil patch exploration areas throughout the global village. On one hand they feed us as the human herd, a bill of goods the other hand they are poisoning the planet. Are we all mushrooms being kept in the dark? This is a crime against the planet and our drinking water & future generations as the technology exists to miss the aquifers completely to stop the commingling, polluting and cementing off of crucial aquifers. Here is the double bladed sword of it, it would save billions in down hole drilling costs, but it would kill the mud industry, which would kill the mining industry that supply the oil patch. That is the bottom line. Now believe it or not to circumvent attention away from the damage to water wells, the Alberta government set up water co-operatives and water lines to encourage farmers, ranchers and acreage owners from using water wells. This agenda is a whitewash of subsurface water chemistry where the real state of affairs was hidden while water wells were being used less or not at all in most cases. It’s not a coincidence that the monitoring of underground water resources fell victim to something called “budget cuts.” It’s ironic that the tax base has grown exponentially where the population and taxes, realize taxes is a “growth industry,” with higher populations there are higher tax revenues now. How could there not be enough money for water resources monitoring and quality sampling available unless it was engineered to hide the real state of water chemistry? With my experience in the drilling process over 20 years, I was disgusted at the damage to the environment, with both subsurface and surface so consequently, I left the oil patch. Since I have been a part-time filmmaker for over 20 years, I have finally decided to step forward with an ECO-DOC series entitled "Water Watchers" which is a look at the multi-dimensional aspects of the politics of water in Alberta, Canada, US and the global village. Other contributing factors are: climate change; the natural drought cycle we are in presently which is cyclical and not just due to green house gases; urbanization; over usage in agricultural practices; commercial and livestock processes. We invite you to become a water watcher. Please watch the trailer of "Water Watchers" at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7-gSk67HrA or at: http://www.eaglesbreath.ca (click on the "Projects" Icon, scroll down, click on the "Water Watchers" Icon) I would like to find the medium to broadcast our eco-doc series we are producing, we welcome pre-sales & funding relationships. We need to address these issues as most of the damage is being done in the watersheds. We need to protect them but the trouble is, we may be 100 years too late in some cases. We will cover water issues from the grass roots level, both above and below the surface. Remember we all live in a watershed to some degree and proportion so do not think for a second this issue does not affect you. If you use water, it affects you. I have been involved in the drilling of about 2,000 water, oil, gas and environmental drilling contracts to date. I bring hands on experience with the support of several environmental groups, scientists, and researchers. Please follow our clips that should evolve to its necessary medium as either a feature film or TV series that looks at the 7 continents and the politics of water in the global village. This is necessary so we can inform the masses about the pestilence in the bowels of the earth because of fossil fuel exploration and a lack of due diligence in safety standards. One must realize that there are many factors in the global that effect water, climate change, natural drought cycles, green house gases, over usage, higher population demands, in humans, in the livestock industry, agriculture, we are over burdening the planet on all levels with all her resources, not just water. In a sense perhaps we should label it The Fourth Horseman project as we are literally committing environmental suicide. We are dishonoring Mother Earth and future generations of the human herd. No wonder why Mother Earth is reacting like we are a plague and a disease. Its immune system is the storms, climate change, earthquakes and diseases, where drought may be its attempt to depopulate the planet of the disease called “mankind” that has raped its resources for generations. We need solutions. We need to find a win/win solutions to get away from fossil fuels. Please take a step in planting the seeds of change before it is too late to put the earth back into balance. Water is a basic human right so let’s not allow it to become a commodity since many multi-national corporations are in the process of buying up water rights, watersheds, water markets, water treatment plants and water bottling companies. Speaking of controlling key water elements, Cold Fusion is a reality in certain European countries, on a military test basis, as well as in several countries, in particular, Scandinavian countries, Germany, entire towns are on the cold fusion grid, there are people attempting to make the technology world wide, but there are also interests that do not want this as they will loose the grasp on the monopoly of fossil fuels. The fossil fuel economy is dying because of the rumblings of cold fusion as the next alternative energy source. Even cold fusion portable generators are being shipped all over the world. Do some online research for yourself. http://world.std.com/~mica/cft.html http://europe.cfunited.com/ http://www.coldfusioncamp.com/en/index.cfm This alternate energy source is threatening the oil based economy, so it is being suppressed by oil & gas interests, literally a war over cold fusion verses oil & gas technology's. There is the possibility for the two to coexist at this point in time. Then slowly phase out the oil & gas dependency; convert it to nanotechnology to repair the wells down hole, repair, the negative impacts, thereby employing the same work force, to fix the damage that has been done. A whole new industry, can exist to clean up the planet. But how is it profitable? What are the incentives to do this to multi-national interests. Have faith we will find a way, but only when there is a shift in human consciousness will it happen. Let us approach this with awareness and forethought to change the laws and policies before our water becomes extinct and too toxic to drink. Remember, we cannot drink the oil. Let’s stop committing environmental suicide before it’s too late. We are not fear mongering with this intention but rather our aim is to find solutions and an intelligent approach to restore the balance of planet earth. We welcome your participation and your comments as our problems in Alberta are a model for the global village. Hopefully, this horseman has done his job by revealing to you the pestilence in the bowels of the earth or is it just plain old common sense? Ponder this: In a battleship, all it takes is one drop of oil to contaminate the whole water system and render it non-potable. Think about where we are in putting the earth back into balance. Only you can make the difference, one step or drop at a time, do we really have a choice?... Bruce A. Henning, Producer/Director Water Watchers http://www.eaglesbreath.ca | |
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