- Published: November 14, 2021
- Updated: November 14, 2021
- University / College: Queen's University at Kingston
- Language: English
- Downloads: 1
Each gas well requires an average of 400 tanker trucks to carry water and supplies to and from the site •It takes 1-8 million gallons of water to complete each fracturing job •The water brought in is mixed with sand and chemicals to create fracking fluid. Approximately 40, 000 gallons of chemicals are used per fracturing. •Up to 600 chemicals are used in fracking fluid, including known carcinogens and toxins such as… lead, uranium, mercury, ethylene glycol, radium, methanol, hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde •The math:
500, 000 active gas wells in the US x 8 million gallons of water per fracking x 18 times a well can be fracked = 72 trillion gallons of water and 360 gallons of chemicals needed to run our current gas wells.
•The mixture reaches the end of the well where the high pressure causes the nearby shale rock to crack, creating fissures where natural gas flows into the well •During the process, methane gas and toxic chemicals leach out from the system and contaminate nearby groundwater. Methane concentrations are 17x higher in drinking water wells near fracturing sites than in normal wells. •Contaminated well water is used for drinking water for nearby cities and towns.
There have been over 1000 documented cases of water contamination next to areas of gas drilling as well as cases of sensory, respiratory, and neurological damage due to ingested contaminated water. •Only 30-50% of the fracturing fluid is recovered, the rest of the toxic fluid is left in the ground and is not biodegradable. •The waste fluid is left in open air pits to evaporate, releasing harmful VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) into the atmosphere, creating contaminated air, acid rain, and ground level ozone. •In the end, hydraulic fracking produces approximately 300, 000 barrels of natural gas a day, but at the price of numerous environmental, safety, and health hazards.
