What Happens to the Collected Water?

CMS Land collects an average of 150,000 gallons of water a day. The water is treated to lower the pH to a level similar to milk of magnesia and about 15 truck loads a day are sent to a deep injection well in Johannesburg. Collected water also was sent to the Traverse City water treatment plant until April 2010. CMS Land is spending about $6 million a year to collect, treat and dispose of this water.

Trucking the treated water off-site is not an ideal, cost-effective, long-term solution and it increases truck traffic on Northwest Michigan roads. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) have issued permits for CMS Land to develop a disposal well near Alba, in Antrim County. The permits for the well are currently the subject of litigation.

Antrim County deep injection well FAQs

Earlier this year, the EPA and MDEQ approved permits for CMS Land to install a Class 1 disposal well in Antrim County, near Alba. Injection well graphics

CMS Land intends to use the well as an interim measure and continues to work with the EPA and the MDEQ to identify a local disposal option for the environmental project’s water. A lawsuit concerning the well is currently in a "stay" status, meaning it has been placed on hold.

Below are some frequently asked questions and answers about the well and how it fits in with the project:

Q: Will the well be safe?

A: The EPA and MDEQ concluded the proposed well can operate safely after conducting an exhaustive scientific and technical review that lasted more than a year. They also concluded the well won’t harm drinking water sources in the area or the Jordan River. The well will have numerous surface and below-ground safety features, and extensive monitoring and reporting procedures will be required. The CMS Land well will go down more than 2,100 feet below the surface. The area aquifer that supplies drinking and irrigation water ends at about 300 feet. The geologic zone where CMS Land plans to inject the treated water is proven for such uses, and there are two impermeable layers of rock between that zone and the local aquifer. Additionally, the test drilling of the well must demonstrate that it can operate safely before the well can be put into operation. Deep injection wells have been widely used in the United States for more than 50 years and have an excellent safety record. For more information concerning Class 1 injection wells please visit the EPA website.

Q: Why was Antrim County selected as the site of this disposal well?

A: Antrim County was selected because of its geology (see all active injection wells in Michigan graphic). Scientific research and well records were used to identify a location where the geology has been proven to be suitable for such a well. More than 100 oil and gas wells and three other disposal wells already are operating within two miles of the CMS Land well site. That shows the area’s geology is suitable for such use. In fact, Antrim County is already home to nearly 50 active brine disposal wells and there also have been more than a dozen new injection well permits issued in Antrim County since early 2006.

Q: I’ve heard the water that will be injected into the well described as a “toxic soup.” Just how dangerous is the water?

A: The EPA classifies the water as non-hazardous waste. While the water is non-hazardous, it does have a high concentration of salts as well as trace amounts of other constituents which do not meet drinking water standards and it must be disposed of in accordance with the law.

The water collected at the environmental project is treated onsite to reduce its pH level to about 10, which is similar to milk of magnesia. While the water does contain trace amounts of mercury, those amounts are about 10 times less than what the government considers safe for drinking water.

Q: Why does the water have to go to a disposal well?

A: Because the water comes from an environmental remediation site under the supervision of the EPA and MDEQ, it has to be disposed of in a licensed facility, such as a disposal well. Currently, the project is disposing of about 150,000 gallons a day of treated water. About half of the treated water is trucked to the Traverse City water treatment plant and the other half is trucked to an existing deep injection well near Johannesburg.

Q: Why does CMS Land want its own well?

A: CMS Land has overall responsibility for the environmental project and that includes disposing of the treated water properly. The proposed well is part of our plan to meet our environmental responsibilities. When the well is finished, it will increase safety, greatly reduce the amount of fuel used by trucks and wear and tear on the roads. Again, CMS Land intends to use the well as an interim measure and continues to work with the EPA and the MDEQ to identify a local disposal option for the treated water.