Asbury Manor-CS090112 (3)
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Ken Griffin - Re: City of Coppell water supply
From: Glenn Hollowell
To: Karen Farnum
Date: 1/12/2009 4:26 PM
Subject: Re: City of Coppell water supply
CC: Ken Griffin; Rhonda Adloo
Dear Ms. Farnum,
My name is Glenn Hollowell. I am the Assistant Director of Public Works for the City of Coppell. Among other
things, one of my major responsibilities is the operation and maintenance of the City's water system. I will
address your attached letter and hopefully answer all of your questions.
Chesapeake Energy has indicated that they will use from 16,000 to 20,000 gallons of water per day(gpd) for
their drilling and "fracing" operations. This breaks down to approximately 15 gallons per minute(gpm) maximum
if they continuously take water 24/7. If you were to turn on all of the faucets and at your home, 15 gpm is
probably about what you would get from all of your faucets combined. The 3/4" water meter that supplies your
home with water will only put out about 18 gpm max. with no restrictions. A 3" fire hydrant meter can supply up
to 350 gpm with a recommended flow rate of about 175 gpm. It is my understanding that in most drilling
operations, water is fed into a holding tank and pumped out of the holding tank as needed for the drilling
operation. We do not expect this type of drilling operation to have any noticeable impact on our water system.
Residents in the area of these drilling operations should not notice any drop in water pressure due to this
operation. The City water mains in this area are "looped" in multiple ways. In other words, there are several
large water mains that feed into this area from multiple directions depending upon other needs in the system.
Another point you raised was about drought conditions and water restrictions. Our current water conservation
plan mainly applies to irrigation and outside watering including garden hoses, etc. Should a condition arise that
would force the City to move to Stage 5 of our plan, we would require that they cease using the City water
supply for their drilling operations. They would always have the option of trucking the water in from another
source while repairs were being made to our system. In order to move to stage 5 of our plan, we would have to
have some type of major failure in the system and all affected meters would be restricted.
The last point you brought up in your letter was concerning our wholesale water purchasing contract with the
City of Dallas. Under current conditions, we can get up to 17 million gallons per day(MGD) from our supplier.
During this time of the year, we are only using around 8 MGD. During our peak usage time this past summer,
we had one or two days where we hit approximately 17 MGD and maybe ten days where we hit between 16 and
17 MGD. We stayed at or below 16 MGD the rest of the summer. In all cases, we have always managed to get
completely re-supplied and our tanks full by the end of the day following a heavy usage day. Last summer has
been typical of the last several summers. We have not had to increase our rate of flow from the City of Dallas in
over five years. We seemed to have stabilized our maximum water usage at the 17 MGD mark. A new customer
using 20,000 gpd should not have a significant impact on our daily supply. While Chesapeake will become one
of our largest water customers, they will not have a significant impact on our system. When you consider the
volume of water we use during peak periods, Chesapeake's usage will only be about one tenth of one percent of
our total usage for a maximum usage day.
My apologies for the long response. I hope I have adequately covered all of your concerns regarding this
matter. I feel comfortable in stating that I do not have any concerns on our ability to supply water for this
operation. Our main concern is always for the safety, health and well-being of our citizens and we would never
allow anyone or anything to jeopardize or compromise our water system. Do not hesitate to contact me if you
have any other concerns regarding this matter. I would be more than happy to give you a tour of our water
facilities so you can see for yourself our capabilities as a water purveyor. We are very proud of our system and
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strive to make it the best that it can be.
Thanks you for your concern. It is nice to know that there are citizens that care enough about their community
to inquire about issues.
Thanks again,
Glenn D. Hollowell, P.E.
Assistant Director of Public Works
972-462-5150
ghollow@ci.coppell.tx.us
>>> "Karen Farnum" <lf12281987@msn.com> 1/9/2009 3:25 PM >>>
Dear City of Coppell Engineer,
Can you please help me to understand a little more about Coppell's water supply?
Regarding Chesapeake Energy's permit request to drill up to 11 gas wells on the
Callejo property immediately south of Canyon Road, I noticed in their application
that it is their intent to tap into the City of Coppell water supply for their gas drilling
purposes, and that they want like to use the existing North Coppell Road fire
hydrant that is adjacent to the Grand Homes.
It is my understanding that an enourmous quantity of water is utilized during the
drilling of gas wells, and that quantity significantly increases during the "fracing"
portion of gas well development within the Barnett Shale.
So I was wondering, if Chesapeake uses the City of Coppell's water system to
supply their water needs for all 11 wells, how in turn will that impact Coppell
residents?
Will we experience any water-pressure problems, especially during Chesapeake's
peak usage times?
What if we are in the middle of a drought and under strict water-restrictions?
Will the costs associated with the City of Coppell's purchase of water from our
water-supplier go up? If so, how much?
Thank you,
Karen Farnum
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