Farmers in Kern County, one of the top five agricultural regions in the United States, are benefiting from a unique partnership between the Cawelo Water District and Chevron, which is applying innovation to create a more sustainable local water supply.
Chevron's Kern River oil field is one of the nation’s largest. The oil field also happens to be a large source of relatively fresh produced water. Seeing an opportunity to address local irrigation needs, Chevron partnered with the Cawelo Water District to provide farmers with water from this non-traditional source.
In mature heavy oil fields like the Kern River field, the oil tends to be thick and viscous, and the technology employed to lift it to the surface is called steam-flooding. Steam is injected as vapor into the ground, where it heats the oil to lower the viscosity so it can be more easily extracted. Then, the oil and produced water are lifted a thousand feet to the surface, where the water is separated from the oil and finally conditioned in giant filters made from crushed walnut shells, which are gathered from local farmers.
For every barrel of oil, about ten barrels of water are also produced, totaling more than 700,000 barrels of water a day. Chevron reclaims about one third to generate new steam, and most of the remaining produced water is treated and then provided to the Cawelo Water District. The district supplies 160 farmers and irrigates 45,000 acres of crops that include grapes, citrus, almonds and pistachios.
“I've always felt that we could feed the world if they allowed us enough water.”
— Roy Pierucci, Kern County Farmer
"Water is a precious resource around here and we’re working hard to make sure not a drop of it is wasted," said Jim Waldron, Chevron hydrologist. "We're proud of the unique solution that we've developed and to be able to partner with Kern County growers to meet their water needs and keep agriculture thriving in this region."