All the while that Grand County planning and engineering staff have been preparing an ordinance to regulate disposal of production water from oil and gas wells, a different kind of disposal facility has been under construction at Harley Dome – without county or state permits.

County engineer Mark Wright, the Grand County Attorney, and the attorney for Westwater Farms are working to resolve issues regarding the need for a conditional use permit from the county for a commercial activity, according to Wright.

The proposed activity is to purify production water for agricultural purposes. Westwater Farms official Jeff Dyke has not responded to an email request for more information about the company’s goals and intentions for use of the water.

A cease-and-desist letter to Westwater Farms officials from the county’s engineer and building official has apparently been ignored. According to David Smuin of the Grand Canyon Trust, construction activity at the site has continued since the cease-and-desist letter was sent on July 10.

Email correspondence between Dyke and Clinton Dworshak, compliance officer with the state Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, indicates that Dyke believes no permits are necessary.

Dworshak’s written response to Dyke states the facility will need a permit from the state agency to receive production water, and mentions that Dyke must also obtain a permit from the state Division of Water Quality.

In a letter to Grand County resident Sarah Fields, Rob Herbert, manager of water quality’s ground water protection section stated, “Based on the high quality of the treated effluent, the lack of ground water in the area, and the fact DOGM will issue a permit to Westwater Farms, DWQ has issued a ground water discharge permit-by-rule to Westwater Farms for the beneficial use of treated produced water for agricultural purposes.”

But obtaining the Division of Oil Gas nd Minin’s permit is not necessarily a given, according to Dworshak. He said in a telephone interview that the division has asked Westwater Farms to submit more information. He also verified that a county permit is required.

He said that the division’s problem is that because construction of a large tank and pipes to receive and transfer production water proceeded without any permits there was no monitoring of the work. The division is not satisfied that the leak detection system is adequate or that the pipes are properly buried to ensure that no leaks could contaminate ground water.

“In concept we like the idea of reuse of water ... but we have not given the approval to construct the facility,” Dworshak said.

According to the cease-and-desist letter, Dyke and Tom Warnnes asked county planning and zoning if they needed a permit to build a 100,000-gallon water tank for agricultural purposes or a permit to build a greenhouse. The answer at the time was no, because county permits are not necessary for those purposes.

But, the county’s letter adds, “We now understand that the facility you have under construction is a commercial type wastewater treatment plant which requires a building permit and plan review of such items as: electrical, plumbing, structural, foundation, and site plan.... In short we find that the information you have provided to the county is incomplete and therefore the previous answers given to you by county staff to be invalid.”

According the application submitted by Westwater Farms to the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, production water will be pre-filtered, polished and processed through reverse osmosis. The pre-filter will remove large particles. Polishing removes trace oil and grease, and reverse osmosis will reduce total dissolved solids to less than 500 mg per liter.

Waste will be transported to another facility such as the production water disposal operation at nearby Danish Flat, or to an injection well, according to the application. There is one injection well in Lisbon Valley and several in the Uinta Basin, according to Dworshak.