Reply #12: Wasting our precious water

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simply because they don't want to have to pipe it or haul it to next job.



Each well here takes 3-5 million gallons, but elsewhere the process demands far more -- upward of 13 million gallons for the wells south of San Antonio.

Unlike swimming pools, golf courses or your shower, this water is lost. It's removed from the cycle in two ways. A significant portion is lost down in the formation as a part of the fracture. This is water for money, and the gas that emerges pays well, heats houses, powers plants and all those things we expect every day.

The second portion of water lost on every well presents a significant quandary. It comes back to the surface, millions of gallons at a time, loaded with salt, hydrocarbons and frac chemicals.

The state of the art in the Barnett Shale has been to truck the fluid to disposal wells that convey the waste to deep saltwater formations. We have disposed of billions of gallons in the hidden reaches of Earth.


Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/11/19/3537703/in-fort-worth-hard-choices-come.html#ixzz1eOMNjk4b