Fracking – Suicide Capitalism Poisons The Earth’s Fresh Water Supplies.
Last edited Sat Oct 25, 2014, 10:20 AM - Edit history (1)
Governments across the world are triumphantly declaring that gas fracking is the solution to our rapacious energy needs. Yet as each month goes by new studies emerge in the United States of how this industry is poisoning water supplies and posing a grave threat to public health.
...The fracking industry’s reliance on huge amounts of water is placing unsustainable demands on many regions which are expected to experience 20 per cent or higher growth in population. To compound matters there has been a systematic over-exploitation of 40 major US aquifers. Major fracking activity and depleted aquifers overlap in many regions.
In many water stressed areas such as Texas it is creating major problems for ordinary people. There is water rationing for 15 million people and 30 small towns are threatened with running out of water completely because of the insatiable demands of the fracking industry.
...EPA scientists are worried about the threat to public health from the huge amounts of fracking waste water. Sewage treatment plants are incapable of removing radioactive materials from waste water which is then discharged into rivers from which drinking water is taken.
On average only 30-50% of the fracking fluid is recovered the rest is left in the ground. In some areas waste water is left in open air pits to evaporate into the atmosphere. Harmful volatile organic compounds are released into the air creating acid rain and ground level ozone.
To compound this environmental pollution there is the problem of water shortages caused by fracking. Each fracking well uses huge amounts of water requiring 2 to 4 million gallons of water. The EPA has estimated that the 35,000 fracking wells in America consume between 70 and 140 billion gallons of water each year.
A recent study by Ceres reveals that 47% of all oil and gas wells in the US are in regions with high or extremely high water stress. More than 55% of all US wells are in areas experiencing drought. Thirty six per cent of all wells are in regions experiencing ground water depletion."
http://www.globalresearch.ca/fracking-suicide-capitalism-poisons-the-earths-fresh-water-supplies/5368362