courtesy: gaslandthepicture
Is fracking putting more pressure on our already stressed water resources?
Hydraulic fracturing is a new controversial method of extracting gas reserves that are trapped in sediment in the ground. The water is used to flush out the gas, after the earth has been fractured.
Unfortunately the technique uses a lot of water to flush out the gas, and it is mixed with some potent chemicals, some of them undisclosed, that end up contaminating the water used and often also the water table that underlies the fracking site.
That said, just the fact that fracking employs such large quantities of water is worrisome to some.
Water resources are becoming constrained from all sides. Besided its industrial use, water resources are being depleted both by the rise in population and therefore demand, and by climate change.
Less and less water is deposited in winter when the snowfall is scarce, and in the summer months many southern states have suffered prolonged and severe droughts.
Another constraint is the liberal use of water for agriculture.
Some scientists say that the time has come to rethink water supply and usage, if we want to increase efficiency. Without such planning we are looking straight at severe water shortages, and all the problems that come with it.
Among the proposals: smarter use of water in farming, rerouting of steam from power plants, and reuse of water by filtering and treatment, so that water can be reused over and over again.
Another alternative is to tap into seawater. A new plant in California aims to do just that. However a cost effective desalinization system has yet to be invented. Whatever systems are in place are expensive and use up energy.
As the water supply diminishes, more and more cities and municipalities will be forced to exercise water rights to better distribution and management of the precious commodity.
Partial source: Scientific American 3.3.13
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