Pipelines and Source Water Protection
by Kathleen Carson
Groundwater Technician at CRWA
One type of "potential source of contamination"; or PSOC,which often does not receive the attention it deserves in a source water or wellhead protection effort is the category of pipelines. Because they are usually beneath the surface and out-of-sight, pipelines are frequently overlooked as a potential problem. The vast majority of pipelines that could be of concern transport either raw sewage, fuel products, or crude petroleum.
Most pipeline incidents occur as a result of excavations, although corrosion and deterioration due to age are a growing concern. Raw sewage spills from lift station overflows, force main ruptures, and leaking or broken sewer mains can affect public water supply sources. Strictly enforced local ordinances for sewer construction and adherence to Utility Notification requirements are critical for ensuring adequate source water protection, Also very important are diligent operation and maintenance of vulnerable system components.
In the case of fuel or crude oil pipelines, ensuring source water protection is even more challenging. Petroleum product pipelines can range within a single local jurisdiction, through multiple local/state/federal jurisdictions, or can be vast interstate enterprises. Although trying to sort out and make sense ofthe applicable maze of regulations and regulators and responsible parties is not an easy task, the objectives with respect to source water protection are clear enough. First, persons responsible for the water system need to know if the locations of any existing pipelines lie within a wellhead or source water protection area, and secondly, local jurisdictions should be able to restrict any placement of future pipelines that may threaten a public drinking water source.
Clear and comprehensive guidance for accomplishing these objectives does not exist. The Colorado Oil & Gas Commission website, http://oil-gas.state.co.us,is the best source of information for oil and gas recovery and processing facilities on private or State land. The US Bureau of Land Management in Colorado, http://www.co.blm.gov/oilandgas/oilgas.htm.administers oil and gas leases on Federal lands. These sources may have information on permitted facilities, but it appears that "gathering" lines (pipelines coming from wells) and wastewater pipelines are not regulated.
There are limited areas in Colorado in which interstate fuel product pipelines are located. Since September,2001, specific information on the location of these pipelines has been restricted. However, general maps of the US crude oil and product pipeline system show that these pipelines are located in the extreme southwestern corner of the State, southeastern Colorado, east central Colorado, and directly north of the Denver metropolitan area. It is possible for a municipal or county official to obtain specific information about a pipeline in its jurisdiction by contacting the US Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration website, http://www.npms.rspa.dot.gov/default.htm. to obtain GIS data from the Pipeline Integrity Management Mapping Application (PIMMA).
Finally, how can small rural water systems, which often are in unincorporated areas, exercise any local control over future pipeline locations? Another website may provide some help along those lines. Earthworks, a non-profit organization which provides assistance and guidance to communities in dealing with the impacts of "mining, digging, and drilling" has available, through the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, a model Colorado County Oil and Gas Regulation at the following link, http://www.earthworksaction.org/pubs/COmodelregs.pdf. The regulation would apply to lands within the unincorporated area of the county with the exception of federal lands or those lands where the county's jurisdiction is preempted by federal or state laws.