Significant changes at some outcrop sites are just
beginning to show definitive increases after nearly 10 years of coalbed water
production. Appendix C: Chart 15 shows the rapid recent response of a
soil vapor tube 1.5 miles distant from a group of high water producing gas
wells in the Cinder Buttes area.
Several soil vapor tubes along the outcrop up-dip from these gas wells
now show greater than 2,000 ppm hydrogen sulfide (Appendix C: Chart 14b) and contain an ethane component,
representing recent change.
Accompanying charts show daily water production since 1990 from the four
closest Fruitland coalbed wells. In the
Colorado Portion of the San Juan Basin approximately 250,000,000 barrels of
water have been produced to date from the Fruitland coalbeds. Cumulative water production from four wells
in the northern portion of the Basin has exceeded 4,000,000 barrels of water per
well. Over 30 wells have produced in excess of 950,000 barrels of water (Appendix C: Chart 16; Appendix B: Maps
and Cross Sections 13).