THE CASE AGAINST HYDROFRACKING - Hydrofracking: What Everyone Needs to Know - page 52

Does Fracking Deplete Aquifers?
While the amount of water used in hydraulic fracturing depends on the type, depth,
location, and characteristics of each shale formation, a typical drilling operation
will use 6,000 to 600,000 gallons of fluids just in the initial stages of the process,
according to Chesapeake Energy. 4 Over the course of their lifetime, some wells
will use 2 to 4 million gallons, though others—such as those in Texas' Eagle Ford
shale—can use as much as 13 million gallons. 5 (It should be noted that there are
many variations among shale formations, that estimating water use is complex, and
because no fractured well has yet experienced an entire life cycle these numbers
are well-educated guesses.)
Water underlies most other resources, and as hydrofracking spreads it has set
off “resource wars”—a competition for limited water supplies—that, in a state like
Colorado, pit energy companies against traditional users such as farmers, ranchers,
builders, industry, ski areas, and homeowners. 6
In Texas, where the population is growing and a brutal drought has lingered
since 2010, a study by the University of Texas found that the amount of water used
in hydrofracturing more than doubled between 2008 and 2011. 7 This amount will
likely increase before leveling off at about 125,000 acre-feet in the 2020s. In 2011,
632 million barrels of water were used to produce 441 million barrels of oil. Some
studies show that hydrofracking consumes less than 1 percent of the total water
used statewide, which is much less than agriculture or even lawn watering in Texas.
But water tends to be a local issue, and in drilling hotspots like Dimmit County,
water use has grown by double digits to keep pace with the shale oil boom.
Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas, charges that the industry is “ab-
solutely not doing enough” to conserve water. 8 Legislators have convened hearings
and undertaken studies, and have pushed the industry to conserve. But in 2011,
only one-fifth of the water used for hydrofracking was brackish or recycled wa-
ter; the rest was clean water. Furthermore, hauling water to well pads and taking
wastewater away requires hundreds of trips by heavy trucks, which adds traffic,
wears out roadways, and antagonizes the public. Oil and gas drillers are “in the
spotlight right now,” said state representative James Keffer, the Republican chair-
man of the Texas House Energy Resources Committee. “They have to prove them-
selves.” 9
As hydrofracking technology spreads around the world, concerns like these will
follow it. According to the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, European shale