Marcellus Shale fracking wells use 5 million gallons of water apiece {image warning}

[xchrom]

http://grist.org/news/marcellus-shale-fracking-wells-use-5-million-gallons-of-water-apiece/

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Frackers are slurping this right up.


Forget about residents. Forget about fish. The streams and rivers of Pennsylvania and West Virginia are being heavily tapped to quench the growing thirst of the fracking industry.

According to a new report, each of the thousands of fracking wells drilled to draw gas and oil out of the Marcellus Shale formation in those two states uses an average of 4.1 to 5.6 million gallons of fresh water. That’s more than the amount of water used by fracking wells in three other big shale formations around the country:





And with approximately 6,000 wells in Pennsylvania alone, the industry is taking a heavy toll on the region’s waterways. The map below shows drilling permits in Pennsylvania and West Virginia; note the heavy concentration within the Susquehanna River basin.

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[gopiscrap]

1. holy shit, if only people paid attention!

[Nihil]

4. That *is* something that underlies so many current problems. (n/t)

[gopiscrap]

5. yes and it drives me nuts

I grew up in Europe and my mom was born in Germany in 1931 and says that this was one of the reasons Hitler came to power (people not paying attention)

[Champion Jack]

2. Yep, and Antero wants to build a pipeline that will carry water directly from the Ohio River 80 miles

And will supposedly move over 5,000,000 gallons of water a day every day for FrackIng, this is water that will never be returned to the natural cycle.

[NickB79]

3. Don't worry, the melting glaciers will balance it out

See, problem solved!