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Fracing Tied to Water Well Pollution

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    Fracing Tied to Water Well Pollution

    Anything to do with water is important to cattle....

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2011/12/08/bc-fracking-groundwater-epa.html

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may have linked fracking — a controversial method of improving the productivity of oil and gas wells — to groundwater pollution for the first time.

    The EPA announced Thursday that it found compounds likely associated with fracking chemicals in the groundwater beneath a Wyoming community where residents say their well water reeks of chemicals.

    The finding could have a chilling effect in both Canada and the U.S. where various levels of government are trying to determine how to regulate the controversial process. Hydraulic fracturing involves pumping pressurized water, sand and chemicals underground to open fissures and release natural gas and oil trapped in the rock formations.

    The industry has long contended that fracking is safe, but environmentalists and some residents who live near drilling sites say it can poison groundwater and release toxic gas into the air.

    As part of the investigation, the EPA drilled two deep monitoring wells in the local aquifer and found synthetic chemicals, like glycols and alcohols consistent with gas production and hydraulic fracturing fluids. It also found benzene concentrations well above Safe Drinking Water Act standards and high methane levels in the deep wells.

    The EPA also sampled drinking water from area wells and found chemicals consistent with migrations from areas of gas production in the drinking water, but stll below established health and safety levels. Nevertheless, health officials advised residents not to drink their water or use it for cooking.

    "Given the area’s complex geology and the proximity of drinking water wells to ground water contamination, EPA is concerned about the movement of contaminants within the aquifer and the safety of drinking water wells over time," said the draft report on the investigation released on Thursday.

    The EPA announcement has major implications for a vast increase in gas drilling across North America in recent years.

    Fracking has played a large role in opening up many Canadian natural gas reserves, but questions have been raised about the practice from northern British Columbia to New Brunswick.

    #2
    Not sure how a frac could not have an effect on
    ground water. I was at a rig last night and they
    had trailers loaded with bags of all kinds of stuff.
    Likely hundreds of different chemicals that get
    dumped down hole. Any of them tested on their
    effects on ground water? No

    Comment


      #3
      Through a chance set of circumstances I was invited to a well site that was being fracked. We were in the trailer where all the decisons were made, all the computers were there and so on.

      It was really remarkable. Before the fracking started there was a safety meeting and it was not just a requirement, there were real risks and they were very serious.

      Once it got started there was a whole lot of pressure being used. Things were literally vibrating. The pressure in the well was raised to the limit of what the well casing could withstand but the target formation still had not fractured. The decision was made on the spot by the owner of the well to go above the rated pressure of the well knowing that if the casing ruptured it was not going to be pretty. The well would be ruined. The people in charge were obviously under a level of stress that was higher I have ever seen before or since.

      The pressure went up, the formation fracked the pressure went down and the well casing did not rupture. A truck load of sand went down the well to hold the formation open. They packed up and were off to the next well.

      There was a trucker there with a load of sulphuric acid just in case it was needed. That trucker sure was polite to the guys in the trailer who made the decision whether or not to inject acid down the well. I was thinking that truck load of acid must be worth a pot full of money.

      Can fracking hurt water wells? I am sure not all the time but some of the time...no question about it.

      Comment


        #4
        Sure revealing to see how fast the rules went out the window in that case F-S. I wonder how many wells even if not ruptured immediately go on later to develop leaks to contaminate the aquifers or surrounding land by this type of practice. I understand they use diesel sometimes in the fracing process - now that's a smart thing to be pumping down where it might reach fresh water is it not?

        Comment


          #5
          I like to think the frack boys know what they are doing? I'm less convinced the regulator (ERCB) has much of a clue!
          Accidents happen. It is a fact of life? I'm not sure the government has done much to ensure the safest methods possible and they definitely do not have much of a game plan to compensate the person who has his water well ruined.
          The truly startling thing about hydro fracking is the amount of fresh water used and never recovered.
          Alberta is going to see a surprizing increase in shale and tight sands production over the next few years. When the ERCB opened up the well spacing rules to the point that there is literally no rules, they ensured basically every acre in the shale zones will be hydro fracked.

          Comment


            #6
            I think the frac boys do know what they
            are doing when it comes to fracing. I
            am not convinced they know or give a
            second thought to the whole underground
            geology and the effects on water.
            The problem with wasting and damaging
            water is that the price is basically
            free until you don't have any and then
            it will make oil look pretty cheap. We
            are looking at several surface water
            developments here over the next several
            years, because I am largely convinced
            that in all its' wisdom the oil industry
            in cooperation with the AB Gov will
            successfully damage most of our
            underground resources and a lot of our
            above ground ones as well.
            I am sure it is nothing that time won't
            heal, but that is the work of milleniums
            not a couple of lifetimes.

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