Water Disposal

Water disposal for CBM production is not a problem in Kansas. Water production rates are significantly less that that of coals in western states. Water from CBM production is commonly disposed into porous and permeable zones in the upper part of the Cambrian-Ordovician Arbuckle Dolomite. This disposal zone takes water on a vacuum, hence no injection pumping is required. One disposal well can take the water from up to 10 production wells. Depth from the deepest coal to the Arbuckle disposal zone is as little as 200 ft (61 m) in southeastern Kansas, but this increases northward into the Forest City basin. However, other porous zones present in several Paleozoic units (e.g., Silurian-Devonian Hunton Dolomite, Ordovician Viola Limestone, and Ordovician St. Peter Sandstone) can also serve as disposal zones in the Forest City basin.

Thickness of Strata Between Base of Pennsylvanian Coal-Bearing Strata and Top of Arbuckle Dolomite Disposal Zone