Municipal Authority approves water sale for fracking site

Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County board members on Friday approved a deal to sell raw, untreated water to a local energy company for a new gas well expected to be drilled next year in Upper Burrell.

The deal will allow Olympus Energy of Canonsburg to purchase up to 2.2 million gallons of water a day from the authority’s Beaver Run Reservoir for four months starting in May 2022.

“We’ve done this three or four times over the last seven years,” said authority Manager Michael Kukura.

The water will be drawn directly from the reservoir and shipped by the energy company to its well pad in nearby Upper Burrell and used during the fracking process for Marcellus shale gas. Upper Burrell supervisors earlier this month approved a permit for the drill site.

Authority board members also voted to grant an easement to allow Olympus access to the reservoir property to draw down and transport the water to its drilling site.

The authority could earn about $200,000 in new revenue from the water sale, officials said.

Water from Beaver Run Reservoir serves about half of the authority’s 122,000 water customers, those who live north of Route 30.

The authority is currently permitted to withdraw up to 35 million gallons of water a day from the reservoir and currently has capacity to treat up to 24 million gallons each day at its on site plant.

The water sale is not expected to impact levels at the reservoir, which for months has been below average but recently rebounded due to an increase of rain and somewhat cooler temperatures, Kukura said.