From: EcoWatch
by
It would be difficult to live without oil and gas. But it would be
impossible to live without water. Yet, in our mad rush to extract and
sell every drop of gas and oil as quickly as possible, we’re trading
precious water for fossil fuels.
A recent report, Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Stress, shows the severity of the problem. Alberta and B.C. are among eight North American regions examined in the study by Ceres, a U.S.-based nonprofit advocating for sustainability leadership.
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| Nearly half (47 percent) of oil and gas wells recently hydraulically fractured in the U.S. are in regions with high or extremely high water stress. Map credit: Ceres |
One of the most disturbing findings is that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is using enormous amounts of water
in areas that can scarcely afford it. The report notes that close to
half the oil and gas wells recently fracked in the U.S. “are in regions with high or extremely high water stress”
and more than 55 percent are in areas experiencing drought. In Colorado
and California, almost all wells—97 and 96 percent, respectively—are in
regions with high or extremely high water stress, meaning more than 80
percent of available surface and groundwater has already been allocated
for municipalities, industry and agriculture. A quarter of Alberta wells
are in areas with medium to high water stress.
Drought and fracking
have already caused some small communities in Texas to run out of water
altogether, and parts of California are headed for the same fate. As we
continue to extract and burn ever greater amounts of oil, gas and coal,
climate change is getting worse, which will likely lead to more
droughts in some areas and flooding in others. California’s drought
may be the worst in 500 years, according to B. Lynn Ingram, an earth
and planetary sciences professor at the University of California,
Berkeley. That’s causing a shortage of water for drinking and
agriculture, and for salmon and other fish that spawn in streams and
rivers. With no rain to scrub the air, pollution in the Los Angeles area
has returned to dangerous levels of decades past.
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