Is Water Our Friend or Our Enemy?

We can only go without water for 3 or 4 days. We need it to keep our body functioning. We use it to brew the magic elixir we call coffee, as well as to cook our vegetables. We need it to grow said vegetables, and our livestock drink it every day. 

So, water is our friend.

But water can turn deadly. Just ask anyone in a hurricane’s path. Or anyone who climbs on their roof to avoid flood waters running down the street. We can drown in only a few inches of water. 

So, water is our enemy. 

But sometimes it can be both.

Many industries throughout out land create water as a by-product of what they’re doing – like drilling for oil, keeping warehouses cool, or creating fertilizer. This water has been deemed our enemy, fit for nothing but to push back down into the ground or hope it evaporates in a pond during hot weather. Bad, enemy by-product water.

But, Encore Green and BUWA know something about that “enemy” water and that it can be rehabilitated and that water can change sides. By-product water can become our friend. When it becomes our friend, we call it beneficial-use water.

Yes, hurricaines aside, water is our friend. And by-product water can be cleaned on-site and then applied to the surrounding land for agriculture or for conservation use, helping everybody win.

So, if you have enemy by-product water, let Encore Green turn it into your friend.

SO . . . WHAT’S THE EXCUSE NOW?

At Encore Green and BUWA, we have done the deed of taking industrial by-product water and converting it to beneficial-use water to grow crops. And yet, many are still balking at the idea of doing it. We keep hearing reasons why it won’t work. But we’ve already solved the industry’s issues of financial feasibility, liability, and permitting.

So…..what’s the excuse now? Is it that we like the idea of throwing water away? Surely not.

SOLVED: 

The Economics. Right now, whatever the industry (oil field, manufacturing, data centers, etc.) pays to “dispose” of (you’re not really disposing, only moving)  by-product water, Encore Green can match that price. You’re paying to collect the water, maybe clean it up, truck or pipe it to a facility, and you have the cost of the “disposal” itself. We’ll do it for that price or better.

SOLVED:

The Liability.   The responsibility of the by-product water transfers to Encore Green when the water itself transfers to our holding tanks for testing and cleaning. We can do this because as part of our normal process, we are already testing the quality of the water before, during, and after it’s applied on the land for ag or conservation. You are indemnified.

SOLVED: 

The Regulations.Encore Green was granted all the permits necessary, including the beneficial-use water permit, to complete their initial, now completed project. We’re not saying it was easy, but we now have the support of those who oversee our water. You are in compliance with the regulators.

Which brings us to . . . well, we’ve solved the concerns and issues. What’s the excuse now?

The Kumbaya Moment for Environmentalists and Big Oil

In our divided world, where every small opinion is met with disproportionate name-calling and hand-wringing, we hope we don’t bother you too much if we interrupt that. 

Instead, we are here to call a truce, lay down our arms, and work together in what we may refer to years from now as the kumbaya moment for oil and the environmental movement.

And we owe it all to the ag industry for this special moment of harmonic understanding.

We don’t have a guitar or flowers for our hair. Instead we offer some facts. 

Last year the oil industry tossed away 882 billion gallons of water. Yep, threw it away, right down the drain. 

You see, this by-product water contains chemicals and comes out of the well along with the oil – about 3 gallons of water for every 1 gallon of oil. So, nobody wants to put that water on crops or have cows drink it. So, injecting it into the ground or letting it evaporate in huge man-made ponds has been the best choice for the oil industry. 

Previously, the oil companies haven’t really had many options that were also economically viable. 

[Nope, you over there, stay quiet. This is kumbaya; don’t go on about how the oil industry could spend more and do good by reducing profits. You have tried to change their mind on that and it’s not working. So, instead, we’re going to work together so everybody wins.]

Enter the new player – the ag community.

Agricultural company Encore Green, LLC and the Beneficial-Use Water Alliance, have brought together technology, proprietary methodology, and an economic framework that will allow the oil companies to take a majority of that 882 billion gallons of by-product water, clean it to the specifications needed to match the local soil’s DNA, and then use it for irrigation, watering herds, soil management, and other conservation strategies. The result is this wasted by-product water becomes beneficial-use water. 

And Encore Green is already doing it! 

If you’re not in the oil industry why should you care? Well, you get thirsty, right?

If the majority of the water needs for the agriculture industry is then essentially being met by the oil industry (how’s that for kumbaya?), then ag is not draining the aquifer. And that means billions more gallons of water for homes and businesses.

And how much more does the oil industry have to pay for this? Not a cent more than the total cost of what they are currently paying to inject the by-product water or evaporate it. We are using their economic model. We told you it was kumbaya!

And in this economic model, there’s many benefits: there’s untapped revenue for the states to fund programs like education without tax hikes, the landowner receives the water for ag, and we all know the aquifer isn’t in danger of going dry.

What’s the next step? 

The oil industry has to decide they’d like to sing along with the rest of us in the chorus of kumbaya. We do hope that they will. 

#BUWA  #BeneficialUseWater   #green

Stop Saying It!

Talking about industrial by-product water, you say, “And then, we dispose of the by-product water by injection….”

We hate to be the ones to tell you,but you’re not doing what you say you’re doing.

You haven’t disposed of any water.

 You’ve just moved it.

The water was in your manufacturing plant or cooling your products or came up when you drilled for oil. And now you got millions of gallons of water to dispose of. 

So, you hire a By-Product Water Disposal Company. They get it off your property, yes. But they only move it to an underground well. Now, the water is doing, well, we don’t know what it’s doing or where it’s going once it’s in the injection well. But that’s okay, right. You’ve “disposed” of it.

Traditional disposal companies are really just moving companies.

At BUWA and Encore Green, we do something different. We don’t just move the water, we re-purpose it and turn it into beneficial-use for conservation or agriculture.  By-product water is an industrial headache – but it can be an opportunity. 

At BUWA and Encore Green, we’ve already done this. 

We jumped through

• technology hoops
• regulatory hoops
• liability hoops
• economic viability hoops

We technically can clean the waterto match the ag or conservation use. We have proven that we can get permits to put the water out onto the land. We assume 100% responsibilityfor the water when it leaves your custody. And, we can do it for what you’re spendingto “dispose” of it. 

It works. So, if you need some industrial by-product water moved, we’re the ones for the job. Only thing is, we won’t move it. We’ll transform it!

#BUWA  #beneficialusewater

Innovation is Easy – Adoption is Hard

Innovative solutions to business problems are most often created when problem solving collides with creativity. Sometimes, a new way of working comes slowly, one tiny idea droplet after another. Other times, the innovation arrives full grown like Athena popping out of Zeus’ (or your) cracked skull. 

Hooray! Innovation! We celebrate it. 

 Then, we ignore it.

Wait, what?

Think about it. If you’ve ever tried to take a new idea to the powers that be inside your own company, then, you know how steep the incline. Or worse, if you try to present a great solution to an outside company, you can be eyed like you are trying to sell a Ponzi scheme.

Why? Well, innovation simply causes pain of transition, struggle of new system building, navigation of company role re-alignment, and all of it might involve some degree of risk. 

Even if ‘the way we do things’ is broken, expensive, and we’re reaping all sorts of unintended consequences from that, many of us prefer to ‘stay the course’ and not ‘rock the boat’ and be happy with ‘the devil we know.’

At BUWA and Encore Green, we get it. We know that a new way, even a better way, is hard to think about, especially if your job is primarily to keep the company moving at a frenetic pace, meeting production quotas. Doing something different will be painful.

So, why adopt a new idea?

Because we can’t stay still. The market, competitors, and regulators are all playing a chess game with your business. If you stand still, the work moves on without you.

We simply must innovate. Yes, test. Yes, be wise. Yes, start small. But, start.

Innovation in our particular market, the by-product water that comes from different industries, is going through a massive transition. For anyone with by-product water, the world is now new.

Let’s talk. We’re good at implementing change. 

#BUWA   #BeneficialUseWater

Water Rights = What’s Right

Jefferson and the boys spelled out our rights in black and white, there in the Declaration of Independence. They wrote that we each “are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.” That’s the rights we have just because we’re us. Those are high and noble rights.

The federal and state government also endow us with certain rights, not because we’re us, but because we pay money. Therefore, we can buy “water rights.”

But rights are not a license.

We think of rights that way sometimes. We think water rights means that we own it and can do what we like.

But in reality, most western states own the water in their state, even if water rights have been granted. And there are quite a number of people employed at the county, state, and federal level with lots of regulations to ensure you do just one thing: 

You do what’s right with the water.

At BUWA and our sister company, Encore Green, we are sounding the clarion call to all industries that produce water as a by-product of their main industry to simply do what’s right with their water and their rights. 

Here’s the catch: There is no catch.

BUWA and Encore Green will redirect what is being paid to dispose of the water and, instead, put it to beneficial-use for ag and conservation. You know, do what’s right.

We are in some major discussions with good men and women who want to do what’s right. And, of course, we’ve met with some who don’t.

But we know that when it comes to water, the good guys are going to win. Because deep down inside, we all know what’s right to do with water rights.  

#waterwins           #beneficialusewater                     #BUWA

Water Injection is Dead. Long Live Water Injection

Remember when the kings used to die and the peasants would shout, “The King is dead; long live the King.” 

Part of what they were trying to say is, “The King died, but we’re scared of a new King because he’s unknown to us!”

That’s kind of how we’re treating water injection wells right now.

[If you don’t know what we’re talking about, scroll to the end for about a 100 word summary.]

Injection as a solution for by-product water is fading. 

• Seismic troubles caused by injection have made everyone nervous – who wants to be responsible for leveling Tulsa? 
• Increasingly, there’s concerns over exactly what that water is doing once back in the ground. You can explain to the water about staying only in the well, but, you know, it doesn’t always listen. So, then we have uncleaned water comingling with ground water. 
• Regulating bodies are now more concerned about granting permits to start new injection. So, good luck getting a new – or renewed --permit.

So, King Injection is dead.

But, long live the King because:

1. We hate to change. The bigger the corporation, often the less open to change we are. 

2. We’ve always done it this way -- famous last words by the execs at Kodak…

3. We hang onto our excuses - even after they are no longer valid. For years, the reason that alternatives to injection were not embraced is because they were either “non-existent” or were “too expensive.” BUWA and Encore Green have proved both to be invalid. But excuses die hard.

4. We worry about internal politics. Adopting a new innovative idea makes people, especially those who are a bit entrenched, to feel threatened. What if I can’t control this new adoption of a process inside my own company? 

5. We don’t care. We like to be in charge and don’t care if there’s a beneficial-use solution that will help all of us who drink water. I like my position of authority. Let ‘em eat cake, uh, I mean, let ‘em pay $5 a gallon for kitchen sink tap water.

The King is gone. It’s time to move on. You and your company can be the water heroes. Long live the new King: Turning by-product water into beneficial-use!

100 Word Summary

For those who aren’t playing along at home, many industries - oil, manufacturing, and any company that is keeping lots of square feet cool - produces billions and billions and billions of gallons of water as part of their industrial process. This is a good thing – we need their products and services.

The water, though, becomes a real headache for them because they can’t just let it run out the back yard or down the street. Most of the times it’s not very clean water. So, the king, the Injection Well, came to rule. This by-product water is trucked to a facility and then injected into the ground. Lately, there’s numerous concerns over continuing this practice.

The Real History of the West -Water

The real history of the West didn’t actually turn on the quick draw of a gunslinger. The history of the West actually has always turned on one thing -- and that’s water.

The desire of our state’s forefathers (and U.S. Congress a few dozen sessions ago) was to see the West settled and thriving. Lots of choices were made and now, today, this desolate, semi-arid land has turned into cities, industries, ranches, and farms. 

That’s the good news. We’re all here.

Here’s the tough news: We’re thirsty. And want to wash our clothes. And to water our crops. And give our cows something to drink.

We have to find a way to make the aquifers last for all of us who are here. Yet the demand increasingly inches its way to overtaking the supply.

However, using the spirit of our forefathers who found innovative ways to accomplish the hard to achieve, we can use a simple solution: Let’s use the water we already have.

Many of the West’s great industries produce water as a by-product of their main business endeavor. 

This water can be cleaned and put to beneficial use for agricultural and conservation use. And if we’re using THAT water for beneficial reasons, then we can keep more water in the aquifer for all our needs like a drink of water or to wash the dinner dishes. 

And that’s the good news! We just have to start. Give us a call. We’ll buy you a glass of water.

#BUWA           #green             #water            #beneficialuse

Corporate Industry Stops Climate Change! (You Should Read the Whole Post, Though)

It’s not Fake News. But, it is POSSIBLE news. News that if we start taking strides could become a reality. 

See, at Beneficial-Use Water Alliance and Encore Green, we’ve recently made friends with the Natural Resources Conservation Service. We explained the idea of turning manufacturing and oilfield by-product water into beneficial-use water for nearby agricultural purposes. But they pointed out that even if there is no nearby ag use, then the by-product water still could be put to beneficial-use for conservation.

More water means better grass. Better grass means better carbon production. Better carbon production means more photosynthesis. And that helps reduce the concerns over climate change. 

So, with our green process, the corporate industries that produce by-product water can be helping to halt climate change.

Now, THAT’S a headline we can’t wait to see!

#BUWA #beneficialusewater #water #green

Got By-Product Water? We Got Solutions.

We’ve been making strides in what’s becoming a movement in turning oilfield by-product water into beneficial-use water for ag.

But it’s not just for oilfields anymore.

We have bumped into all sorts of people who have a water problem. Their industry – and the industries vary – all make great products, but end up with a whole lot of by-product water that they need to do something with.

What’s better than putting it to conservation use? 

Why not grow better grass on your property? Or, actually grow a crop? Put that water to use instead of throwing it away? 

We all get:  Better soil. Better oxygen and carbon in the environment. Better vegetation.

We work with the USDA and NRCS in helping to increase conservation

If you got water, we got solutions. Give us a call. You’ll find us over there with the green grass.

BeneficialUseWaterAlliance.com   818.470.0285. #beneficialusewater #BUWA   #green