(1) El Paso Research Center, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University System, El Paso, TX
(2) Department of Renewable Resources, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY

ABSTRACT
Powder River Basin, covering parts of Wyoming and Montana, is one of the most active coalbed methane (CBM) producing areas in the U.S. CBM accounts for approximately 10% of country’s natural gas production and its importance is increasing with time. Coalbed methane production is associated with production of enormous quantities (approximately 3 million acre feet) of produced water (referred to as CBM water). The quality of CBM water is variable within the PRB region and is often not suitable for direct irrigation. Clearly management of this enormous quantity of CBNG water produced in the PRB presents a major environmental challenge. At present land application of CBM water is the popular water management practice in Wyoming. Soils in the PRB region contain smectitic clays, and nearly 41% area is covered with soils characterized by poor drainage. Waters co-produced from wells associated with coalbed methane production are being increasingly used for irrigating rangelands and production agriculture in the Powder River Basin (PRB) of Wyoming. Application of poor quality CBM water on these lands can have serious negative impacts on soil properties. This presentation will discuss different CBM water management options being used in PRB and impacts of land application of CBM waters on soil properties in selected sites in northwestern Powder River Basin in Wyoming. The presentation will also discuss preliminary results of the studies on use of calcium rich natural zeolites to improve CBM water quality.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Dr. Ganjegunte is Assistant Professor at the El Paso Research Center, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, the Texas A&M University System. He has more than 12 years of research experience in mitigating impacts of soil salinity, agricultural production with saline-sodic water, and soil carbon sequestration. His current research focuses on use of desalination concentrate/saline-sodic waters for beneficial uses (irrigating agriculture and urban landscape) through water treatments technologies, improving soil permeability to leach salts and developing suitable amendment plans to counter sodicity hazards. Dr. Ganjegunte received his Ph.D. from Lincoln University, New Zealand in Soil Science (Dr. Ganjegunte received the British Commonwealth Scholarship to pursue PhD). Prior to joining TAMU, Dr. Ganjegunte worked at the University of Wyoming, U.S., and the Tata Energy Research Institute, India.