A new federal study of the impact of hydraulic fracturing finds “potential vulnerabilities” that “could impact drinking water.”
Congress asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to assess the potential impacts of fracking – injecting a water and chemical mixture under high pressured into the ground to access oil and gas reserves – on drinking water resources in the United States, an EPA news release states.
The draft assessment shows fracking activities to date “are carried out in a way that have not led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources, there are potential vulnerabilities in the water lifecycle that could impact drinking water.”
The release said the assessment follows the water used for hydraulic fracturing from water acquisition, chemical mixing at the well pad site, well injection of fracking fluids, the collection of hydraulic fracturing wastewater (including flowback and produced water), and wastewater treatment and disposal [http://www2.epa.gov/hfstudy/hydraulic-fracturing-water-cycle].
“EPA’s draft assessment will give state regulators, tribes and local communities and industry around the country a critical resource to identify how best to protect public health and their drinking water resources,” said Dr. Thomas A. Burke, EPA’s science adviser and deputy assistant administrator of the agency’s Office of Research and Development.