Fracking Consumes Billions of Gallons of Water
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Government
Drillers in Ohio Have Used More Than 4 Billion Gallons of Water to Frack Horizontal Shale Wells Since 2011
The state surpassed the thousand-well mark in August. A Repository review of water usage reported by drillers to FracFocus, a national fracking-chemical registry, as of Sept. 12, shows:
• Of the first 1,031 Utica and Marcellus shale wells drilled, FracFocus listed the amount of water used to frack 662.
•Water use for all 1,031 wells could approach 6.7 billion gallons, based on average water-use rates per county.
•Chesapeake Energy used 2 billion gallons on 411 reported wells.
•Three wells in Ohio topped 17 million gallons.
•Average water usage was 6.1 million gallons.
•Fracking could consume more than 10 billion gallons of water if all current well permits are drilled.
•Some wells used more water than what drillers estimated on permit applications.
MAIN INGREDIENT
Water is key to fracking. Pumped under high pressure, along with sand and chemicals, it breaks apart underground rock formations to release the oil and natural gas trapped inside.
Of the millions of gallons of liquid used to frack a well, water accounts for more than 99 percent, said Jeffrey C. Dick, director of Youngstown State University's Natural Gas and Water Resources Institute.
Water also is tied to negative aspects of the drilling boom, such as increased truck traffic and earthquakes linked to the underground disposal of drilling wastewater.
Most fracking water ends up underground in production or disposal wells, permanently removed from the water cycle, although the industry says burning natural gas can release more water than fracking consumes.
The need for water will grow as shale drilling expands. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has estimated the state could drill as many as 20,000 Utica wells, a number that would require 122 billion gallons of water at a per-well average of 6.1 million gallons.
SUSTAINABILITY
The water used for fracking primarily comes from municipal water systems, private ponds, public reservoirs, streams and strip mines. A small amount is recycled from drilling wastewater.
How much a well needs depends on its depth, lateral length, whether the rock contains oil or gas, the number of frack stages and the company doing the work.
ODNR isn't keeping a running tally of water use at this point, nor has it had any complaints about companies abusing freshwater systems, said spokesman Matt Eiselstein.
The Utica play covers a very large area, and the state gets more than 30 trillion gallons a year in precipitation.
TAPPING IN
The debate between supply and demand is playing out in the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District.
The district comprises a system of dams and reservoirs built to control floods and save water for public use. In 2012, MWCD started selling water for fracking. As of Sept. 4, it had made $1.44 million selling more than 253 million gallons to three drilling companies with well pads that are tapping, or could tap, oil and natural gas belonging to the district.
The district sells water from Clendening, Seneca and Piedmont lakes in three-month contracts that come with a long list of restrictions, including daily withdrawal caps and a requirement that water be piped, not trucked.
Ted Lozier, MWCD conservation chief, said the district is being conservative.
"Two hundred and fifty-three million gallons is a lot of water, let's make no mistake about that," he said.
But it's a fraction of the water in the district.
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