You may be wondering what is fracking having heard of it from friends and colleagues. Well, this is a process employed by many gas and oil mining companies in their oil drilling operations. It is a process that stimulates an oil or gas well using a hydraulically pressurized liquid mixture. This mixture is commonly made up of water, sand and other chemicals which many companies have so far failed to disclose claiming proprietary measures. The use of water for fracking has had many controversies with environmental and health organizations due to its adverse effects.
The pressurized hydraulic mixture is majorly used to create fractures and open up spaces in the rocks deep below in the wells. Passing of the pressurized substance fractures rocks and causes passages in between them. This results in fractures that allow oil and gas to flow out of its location freely and hence tapping is easier.
The amount of water consumed in this process is substantially massive. It takes about 2 to 8 million gallons of water to frack out a single well. However, some wells tend to use much more than this. In some cases too, there are wells that require fracking more than once. This means using huge amounts of fluid gallons that is fresh from our water cycle.
The utilization of large water amounts on this purpose means that if it is done more frequently an imbalance may be created in our water cycle. The fluid used in this process can hardly be recycled for later use because it is greatly contaminated with acidic chemicals. Although mining companies fail to disclose the chemicals they use for this process, research on their well sites has shown that the use of boric, citric, and acetic acids is evident.
These huge amounts of water means that transportation is necessary to move the fluid to the mining site as well as carry the waste from the wells away. In order to accomplish such a large goal, you need to have around 500 tankers to ferry the fluid and waste for a single well.
This translates to a total of 1000 tankers for two wells and mind you one tanker could be weighing about 100000lbs. This is a very massive amount of weight being transported on the roads. The result of this is damage to the roads resulting in wear and tear. This definitely calls for need to invest more to re-carpet and resurface the pathways.
About half of the fluid used in the fracking process returns to the surface. Here it is stored in steel tanks to avoid leakage and exposure to human beings or animals. It may then be used again for the same process in another well. However, chemical contamination has been noted around the storage tanks.
The other half of the liquid is perceived to remain underground. However, no one can state this for sure. A great possibility is that the liquid gets back into the water cycle and intoxicates the system hence leading to harmful contamination. This is what has pushed many organizations to push for motions against this practice.
The pressurized hydraulic mixture is majorly used to create fractures and open up spaces in the rocks deep below in the wells. Passing of the pressurized substance fractures rocks and causes passages in between them. This results in fractures that allow oil and gas to flow out of its location freely and hence tapping is easier.
The amount of water consumed in this process is substantially massive. It takes about 2 to 8 million gallons of water to frack out a single well. However, some wells tend to use much more than this. In some cases too, there are wells that require fracking more than once. This means using huge amounts of fluid gallons that is fresh from our water cycle.
The utilization of large water amounts on this purpose means that if it is done more frequently an imbalance may be created in our water cycle. The fluid used in this process can hardly be recycled for later use because it is greatly contaminated with acidic chemicals. Although mining companies fail to disclose the chemicals they use for this process, research on their well sites has shown that the use of boric, citric, and acetic acids is evident.
These huge amounts of water means that transportation is necessary to move the fluid to the mining site as well as carry the waste from the wells away. In order to accomplish such a large goal, you need to have around 500 tankers to ferry the fluid and waste for a single well.
This translates to a total of 1000 tankers for two wells and mind you one tanker could be weighing about 100000lbs. This is a very massive amount of weight being transported on the roads. The result of this is damage to the roads resulting in wear and tear. This definitely calls for need to invest more to re-carpet and resurface the pathways.
About half of the fluid used in the fracking process returns to the surface. Here it is stored in steel tanks to avoid leakage and exposure to human beings or animals. It may then be used again for the same process in another well. However, chemical contamination has been noted around the storage tanks.
The other half of the liquid is perceived to remain underground. However, no one can state this for sure. A great possibility is that the liquid gets back into the water cycle and intoxicates the system hence leading to harmful contamination. This is what has pushed many organizations to push for motions against this practice.
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