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While most technology is developed to make our lives better, it’s rarely ever devoid of challenges and nasty side-effects. Newer developments may make our lives easier but we also need to watch out for the hidden costs. The process of hydraulic fracking is one such predicament facing us. Fracking involves drilling deep into the earth and finding oil and natural gas deposits. Although this technology is very popular in the oil and gas industry and is important to meet our energy needs, it has affected our environment for the worse.
What Is Hydraulic Fracturing?
Fracking is the process of drilling and injecting fracking fluid at a very high pressure into the surface of the earth to fracture shale rocks. Doing so releases the natural gas from within the rocks. The fracking fluid is a mixture of gallons and gallons of water, sand, and a host of chemical additives. These chemicals are known to be toxic and/or carcinogenic in nature.
The fracking fluid is injected into the ground through a drilled pipeline, wherein large stainless steel pipes might be used as they do not easily react to the fluid and get corroded.
This fluid travels to the end of the gas well and due to the high amount of pressure causes the shale rocks to crack open, creating crevices (or fracturing them), leading to the natural gas flowing into the well.
Have Technological Advances Helped?
Modern technology has enabled deep drilling into the earth. It is also used in horizontal drilling and that coupled with the introduction of new chemical solutions have made the fracking process more efficient and cost-effective.
Although this new technology has proven to be cheaper when it comes to drilling for oil and gas, one cannot ignore one of its most pressing side-effects – health and environmental hazards. Whether due to the fracturing itself or other aspects of the natural gas shale-drilling lifecycle, the side-effects of this process are tremendous.
Since highly dangerous chemicals are injected into the ground, it is bound to have an impact on our water resources and directly affect our water supply systems. Fracking has also given rise to the problem of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and methane, more harmful than carbon dioxide, releasing into the air.
Apart from that, the noise, vibration and diesel fumes from drilling operations continue to form the basis of complaints of the people inhabiting areas around drilling sites. It has been claimed that in some regions fracking has resulted in earthquakes either due to re-injecting the returned fracking fluid into abandoned mines or deep underground, or from the process itself. There is, however, no proof to fully establish the connection between fracking and earthquakes.
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Mentioned below are some of the adverse effects of hydraulic fracturing on the environment:
Water Pollution
Each gas well uses around five million gallons of locally-sourced fresh water which is permanently contaminated by ground pollutants and toxic chemicals used in the fracking fluid. About half of this water returns to the surface where it is stored in steel containers until it can be injected deep underground in oil and gas waste wells.
There isn’t much information on what happens to the remaining water used in the process. Experts, however, are of the view that at least some of this toxic cocktail makes its way into the water supply system, thereby contaminating it and rendering the water unfit for consumption.
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Noise Pollution and Vibrations
The calm and tranquility of local communities are shattered as soon as a drilling facility is set up in their vicinity and the fracking process is begun. Residents in areas around fracking sites often complain about the large decibels of noise produced during fracking.
Not only do the complaints refer to the incredible amount of noise created at the drilling sites but also to the ruckus caused by truck traffic and the commotion created by the workers. Noise is also produced at gas compressor stations at the time of transporting the gas into pipelines.
Furthermore, the problem of vibrations should also be taken into account. Fracking causes vibrations deep within the earth (which may or may not lead to earthquakes/tremors). Although there is no evidence that these activities cause the earth to tremor, some experts claim to have found a link between the two.
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Air Pollution
According to a new study by the Colorado School of Public Health, air pollution caused by fracking could contribute to severe and prolonged health problems for people living near (within half a mile of) natural gas drilling sites.
In fact, polluted air is a problem not just in the areas where drilling takes place but also in the communities located along the gas pipelines that bring gas to market. In order to keep natural gas in a highly pressurized state for travel through pipelines, several compressor stations are located along the route. Compressor stations have been known to contribute to high levels of air pollution, as well as water and noise pollution.
Extremely high levels of carcinogens and neurotoxins, especially benzene, are found in the air around compressor stations. The presence of benzene, a potentially cancer-causing toxin, can pose serious long-term health hazards to those living in such areas.
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To Conclude
While we are enjoying the economic benefits brought on by fracking, we also need to take into account the environmental cost we are paying for it. Because our environment is sensitive to all human and mechanical activities that take place all over the world, we need to think about coming up with eco-friendly solutions for our needs. By doing so, we would not just be gifting ourselves a healthy ecosystem to live in, but also be making necessary arrangements for leaving behind a planet that will enable the coming generations to have a good life. Strict environmental laws and regulations may not be enough. Taking accountability and using technology responsibly is the need of the hour to make this possible.