By: Jennifer Rook
We are happy to debut this latest feature; "The Basin's Dirtiest Jobs". We hope to highlight some of the dirtiest jobs in the Basin and introduce you to some of the hard working folks from our community who get dirty every day or have to deal with undesirable substances, perform nasty tasks or deal with all manner of muck, slime, dirt, guts, oil; you name it. If it's a Dirty Job, we want to tell you all about it.
Water Truck Driver
If someone tells you that driving a water truck isn't a very dirty job then that person must not have to do his own laundry after being in and around water trucks all day long. Water truck drivers have to drive through some of the nastiest stuff in the patch, chain up truck tires in thick, sticky mud, and are in and out of those trucks all day long, rain or shine, snow or extreme heat, deep mud or thick dust storm. They are also exposed to some of the foulest smelling water this side of the sewage pond. And that smell sticks. Water truck drivers definitely have a very dirty job.
Water services in the oil field are required at all drilling sites. Water is the conduit for all activity in oil or natural gas wells. Water is needed to drill and Frac' (fracture rock) but is essential during the production phase of drilling as well. Water is used to lubricate the drill bit, control pressure in the well and Frac' rock zones to release trapped reserves. Most times the only way to get water to the well site is to truck it in, and then used water will need to be trucked out as well. Water trucks deliver fresh water to well sites in semi tractor-trailor rigs called transport trucks and smaller rigs called bobtails and pup trailers. Fluids are moved off well sites in the same trucks where it is then taken to treatment sites at disposal and evaporation ponds. Other fluids water trucks haul include potassium chloride and brine among others.
The nastiest part of a water truck driver's job is dealing with flow-back water that has just come out of a well. The water has all manner of drilling fluids and bacteria and debris in it and therefore smells very bad. This water is then stored in a disposal pit where it will wait to be treated and evaporated. But in the meantime it sits to stew as more of the foul smelling water is added. The water truck driver is up close and personal at the disposal pit every run. The smell permeates clothing and doesn't come out in just one wash. "I make my husband strip at the back door." One water truck driver's wife admits. "His clothes just STINK so badly. He uses a company laundry service, but if I have to wash his clothes it takes three or four washes to get them so I can even be in the same room with them. We aired out some of his clothes on the deck after a wash and after being outside for two weeks I finally brought them in and hung them up in his closet. Within twenty minutes that whole bedroom stunk like a disposal pit. It's that bad!"
Water truck drivers also have to drive some of the muddiest roads around. It's not uncommon for a truck to get stuck or slide off a road and require assistance to get back on the road. Chaining up is a daily chore when it's muddy as well but the chains come off whenever the driver hits the pavement and go back on as soon as he's back in the mud. It's a "hands on" experience with the mud, for sure and then there is not only stinky laundry to deal with, there is stinky, MUDDY laundry to deal with.
Hats off to water truck drivers. Your cargo is the lifeblood of the oilfield and we salute you even if we hate to have to smell you when you get home.
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