Eye on Energy: Water Business - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Eye on Energy: Water Business

A North Dakota company is making it big in the Bakken -- thanks to water...or more specifically, the ability to clean water and deliver it back to oil companies.

Perry Olson takes us near Trenton for today's Eye on Energy where Paragon Water Solutions is producing useable water right on site.

Oil and water don't mix...but in North Dakota the two certainly go together. Drilling water, fracking water...it is needed to tap the Bakken so water is big business...which is exactly why Paragon Water Solutions is a success.

(Dale Bercier - Co-Owner, Paragon Water Solution) "We have filtered it back to half a micron..with no chemicals...and that happens right here in the Autovac."

Right on site, Paragon is taking water produced in the drilling process, and cleaning it -- naturally -- at a big cost saving for the oil companies...

(Dale Bercier - Co-Owner, Paragon Water Solution) "If you had 1000 barrels of water and you had to dispose of it, you would have at least a 45K bill to dispose of it, without trucking or replacing the water. We can clean it for less than 20 dollars a barrel."

That's a cost saving of more than 50 percent...plus no trucking...plus the water is re-used...it really has been a success -- and here is how it is done. This drum is first loaded with an all natural substance that acts as the filter for the water to pass through.

(Dale Bercier - Co-Owner, Paragon Water Solution) "We use no chemical to clean the water...nothing...no polimers...nothing."

It builds up a thick coat before any drilling water is sucked through...but when that dirty water starts flowing and being pulled through, the contaminants in it are removed...producing clean water that is sent back to the oil company...and natural, solid products that can be disposed of sometimes right on site.

(Dale Bercier - Co-Owner, Paragon Water Solution) "We are able to take that water and filter it back to half a micron...or half the size of a red blood cell. Then at that point the water can be re-used and recycled."

Paragon has two systems now...with another coming making them a successful and growing North Dakota owned company that has flourished thanks to the energy boom. With your Eye on Energy just east of Trenton, Perry Olson, KX News