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How Does Fracking Affect Water Quality

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2. Fracking Affecting Water Quality 2.1. Water Availability The process of fracking uses about 60 million liters of water per well. Of the 2.5% of fresh water, most of which is trapped in glaciers and snow beds, leaving only about 0.007% of the planet’s water that is available to the billions of people around the world. Fracking is a process that is now using a huge sum of the water that is available for human and animal consumption. Fracking wells are being built in rural areas where many of these areas have low water availability already. As large amounts of water are needed and fracking is usually done in areas where water is scarce, water needs to be transported and stored. For the storage of this water, large pits called impoundments …show more content…

There are about 600 different chemicals that are used in fracking fluid, where most of them are hazardous to both humans and wildlife. 150 000 litres of chemicals are used during fracking. Spills of the fracking fluid during the process can result in huge concentrations of the chemicals seeping into the ground. Even though, after the entire process is complete, most of the fluid that was used comes up to the surface, only 30%-50% of it is recovered. Sometimes instead of being taken to a water treatment facility, the fluid is disposed of by injecting it back into the ground. Being in the ground the fluid has the ability to seep into the soil and into water, where it will contaminate drinking water. As fracking involves drilling over 1.6 km into the ground, which is a lot deeper than water bearing rocks. In this case there is the chance that contamination occurs where the drill hole goes through these rocks. Moreover, if the hole is not properly cased to stop leaks the fracking water and fluids can seep into the water aquifers. Wells that are built in rural areas are dangerous as many people in these areas are unaware of the dangers of fracking. Drinking contaminated water can cause different types of cancers and also infertility and birth defects due to of the presence hazardous chemicals. Impoundments that have not been built or properly closed off have led to the death of many animals and also health issues in

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