A recent article in Propublica by Abrahm Lustgarten addresses what to do with fracking waste water. Guess what? It doesn't include piping it underground to a large waste water collection facility or injecting it into a salt water disposal well.
The pressure to reuse rather than dispose of waste water also may have been increased by a series of earthquakes this year near Dallas. Researchers said the earthquakes may have been caused by the company's normal disposal process: injecting waste water underground.
It is on-site recycling and purification. What a great idea. Less fresh water to be wasted on fracking and less fracking waste water to be hauled or piped away to contaminate our air, water, or ground! Gas drilling companies are starting to pursue ways to recycle waste water on site because in some areas they are regulated to do so. The paragraph below is an example of why recycling should be added to standard drilling regulations on the federal, state, and local level.
When change does happen, it is usually foisted on the industry by excessive costs, fear of catastrophe, or regulations.
Asked why his company pursued "green" drilling and fracturing fluid innovations for drilling in the North Sea -- products that it now sometimes uses onshore too -- BJ Services' Dunlap was unequivocal: The law made him do it.
Let's face it, most gas drilling companies won't do it until they are forced to use better drilling practices.
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1 comment:
On-site recycling is the best way to deal with waste water and excessive use of water. This must be a standard regulation.
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