A single 'frack' uses 5 million gallons of water [View all]

[Triana]

Fracking boom depletes, pollutes US water supplies
Valerie Brown
20th June 2013

. . .

Since the onset of the fracking boom almost a decade ago, every state in the US has been examining its geological resources in the hope of finding oil or gas it can access through this extraction method.

Almost half the states are now producing at least some shale gas, with a few - Texas, Pennsylvania, California, Colorado, North Dakota - sitting on massive deposits. Nearly half a million wells in the US were producing shale gas in 2012.

But while many countries now seek to bolster their economies by following the American lead in exploiting this controversial new source of fossil fuels, campaigners in the US are warning of serious collateral damage to the environment: the depletion and contamination of vital water supplies.

A single 'frack' uses 5 million gallons of water

. . .

Fracking a well just once uses upwards of five million gallons of water, and each well can be fracked 18 times or more.

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http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2445447/fracking_boom_depletes_pollutes_us_water_supplies.html