Water Management in Poland: Weeks and months and years…

When it came to the water management issues involved in shale gas operations in Poland, things could get a bit tricky, according to Vice President of CDM Sp. z.o.o, Krzysztof Kaminski.

He spoke about the intricacies of Effective Water Management in Poland on a pre-conference workshop day at the Global Shale Gas Plays Forum in Krakow, Poland.

Showing a list of the main legal acts which pertained to shale gas E&P in Poland, he indicated that the most important was the Water Law Act, which covered the discharge of waste water.

Still, many other acts should be considered, he said, including environment and construction laws in Poland.

“We have five levels of administration,” Mr. Kaminski said of Poland. “Two of them are governmental (national and voivodship); and regional, district and commune regulation.”

He said national level competences were limited to things like concessions.

“Permits are required for all kinds of water intakes and waste discharge facilities,” he explained, adding: “Dangerous substances in solutions has a special ordinance.”

He said up to 14 weeks could be necessary for such permitting.

“Water supply from groundwater wells is more complicated,” explained Kaminski. “For bigger wells the procedure is much more complicated.”

He reported that for environmental assessment and the decision to use a water supply from surface water bodies needed up to 44 weeks. Kaminski spoke of discharge issues and permitting for surface water or municipal sewerage systems, industrial WWTP, ground infiltration, and injection wells.

Depending on local conditions storm water discharge used could take from 9 to 17 weeks, according to him.

Mr. Kaminski showed indicators and their highest value limits for, for example, wastewater discharge to a sewerage system. “There is also a special requirement on storm water discharge, when it’s contaminated; if it’s clean it doesn’t require any pre-treatment,” he said.

He gave examples of TDS concentrations from shale gas wells like the Greater Green River and Fayetteville shale, noting that shale gas flowback TDS levels could vary widely.

His conclusions were that permitting procedures were rather complicated in Poland and should be considered before deciding on a project schedule; and that stakeholders should be engaged at early stages of project development.

“TDS concentration is crucial for disposal approval,” he added. “Recycling of produced water is an effective solution to minimize disposal. Storm water discharge should be treated as one of the most important environmental considerations.”