Wastewater Management for Coal Bed Methane Activity

Minister of Environmental Affairs Regulation No. 02 of 2011 on Waste Water Quality Standards for Coal Methane Gas Exploration and Exploitation (“Regulation”) has been issued to implement Article 20 (5) of Law No. 32 of 2009 on Environmental Protection and Management.

Article 1 of the Regulation defines several key terms that is used throughout the Regulation, for instance, coal bed methane (as elaborated on in Article 1 (1)); coal bed methane exploration and exploitation (as elaborated on in Article 1 (3) and (4)); produced water (as elaborated on in Article 1 (11)); drainage wastewater (as elaborated on in Article 1 (13)); and so forth.

The types of wastewater that are covered in this Regulation, pursuant to Article 2 (1), are produced water; oil-containing drainage water; and residual drilling water. Additionally, Article 2 (2) also states that these types of water, especially produced water, can be managed by a combination of disposing and re-use. An example of disposing is evaporation, and examples of re-use are irrigation, livestock, and coal washing.

The person responsible for coal bed methane activity, pursuant to Article 3, has to manage wastewater.  The wastewater has to meet the standards that are set out under Appendix I and II. Under Article 3 (7), if the coal bed methane activity faces an abnormal wastewater management situation, the responsible person has to report it to the Minister of Environment and the local environment office where the activity is located.

Pursuant to Article 5, produced water could be evaporated as long as the process meets the technical requirements for the shelter tank. For example, under Article 6 (1), the shelter tank should be coated by water-resistant materials; should be located at least 300 meters from housing areas; and must not be used as a hazardous toxic materials disposal place.

The produced water from coal bed methane activity, pursuant to Article 7, cannot be used for other purposes if such water does not meet the quality standards set in Appendix II.

Under Article 8, the regional government could set its own wastewater quality standards as long as it has the same standard or stricter standards than the Regulation.

The Regulation has two appendices. Appendix I states the wastewater quality standard that has to be met in activities of coal bed methane exploration and exploitation. It sets out the standards for three types of water with barium and iron, up to 3 milligrams per liter, and up to 10 milligrams per liter, respectively.

Moreover, Appendix II consists of the quality standards for wastewater that will be utilized for other purposes. For example, the wastewater used for irrigation must contain less than 3000 milligrams of dissolved solids per liter. Furthermore, for livestock purposes, wastewater can only be contain 0.02 milligrams of arsenic per liter.

The Regulation has been in force since 26 April 2011.