It does not take a rocket scientist to realize that water turning once fertile, rich soil into a substance with the consistency of mayonnaise will most likely have some… problems. In this case, the problem came in the form of too much salt allegedly discharged by Coalbed Methane operations.
Roger Muggli has worked his family’s 1,700-acre farm in east Montana almost the entire length of his 61 years, and he considers the nearby Tongue River to be the very lifeblood of his alfalfa and barley crops.
But three years ago, something happened to the river’s water, Muggli said, as routine irrigation began turning the Custer County farm’s once-rich soil the consistency of mayonnaise. The soils could not hold the plant material, he said, and within weeks, large sections of his crops turned yellow and died.
“It looked like this slime had fallen out of the sky,” he said. “I picked up a handful of dirt, and it just squirted all over the place. It was terrifying.”
The culprit was salt in the river water, which when mixed with clay soils turned the cropland into a soggy mush.
Muggli and Montana state regulators believe the high salt content is at least partly the result of deep groundwater extraction by coalbed methane (CBM) operations in neighboring Wyoming — one of the nation’s leading producers of coalbed methane. The water, pumped by the millions of gallons from coal seams to help coax gas to the surface, is then routinely pumped back into the Tongue River and other watersheds by CBM operators, where it indiscriminately mixes with downstream water supplies. ( source )
At this time we do not know of any test methods for… mayonnaise. We do, however know of some testing methods for combustible gases such as methane, butane, propane, etc.
All of us here at Water Testing Blog hope something gets done to resolve issues like this for the sake of farmers like Roger Muggli and everyone who depends upon the crops they grow.