A FRAMEWORK TO QUANTIFY WATER AVAILABILITY IN SHALE GAS REGIONS OF MEXICO: BASELINE AND DEVELOPMENT SCENARIOS

In semi-arid regions, the impacts of shale oil and gas development can be constrained by limited water availability. For water sustainability purposes, it is necessary to improve water balance estimates in catchments and aquifers that supply the amounts of water needed to perform hydraulic fracturing in shale formations. In Mexico, most of the catchments and aquifers located within oil and gas shale basins have a severe lack of climate and hydrological datasets so that key variables such as recharge and baseflow present substantial uncertainty in their estimates.

This work introduces a methodology aimed at quantifying water availability in poor data regions of Mexico such as the Sabinas and Burro-Picachos transboundary shale basins, located across Mexico’s northeast region. The use of remote sensing information to assess groundwater recharge and surface water use by croplands is supported through several spaceborne missions that monitor the main components of the terrestrial water budget such as total water storage (GRACE), precipitation (TRMM, GLDAS, MERRA), evapotranspiration and soil water content (NLDAS and NOAA), agricultural lands (LANDSAT) and in situ observed withdrawal volumes (REPDA database).

Preliminary results provide estimates of a baseline water budget but they also allow to identify subregions with limited availability so that sustainable water management scenarios due to intensive unconventional oil and gas exploitation can be established.