The technique of hydraulic fracturing by the oil and gas industry “can impact drinking water resources in the United States under some circumstances,” the EPA says in a new report. “Impacts cited in the report generally occurred near hydraulic fractured oil and gas production wells and ranged in severity from temporary changes in water quality to contamination that made private drinking water wells unusable.”
EPA said gaps in data and uncertainties in data limited its ability to fully asses the potential impact on drinking water locally as well as nationally. Nonetheless, the report is the most complete compilation of scientific data on the issue of fracking and water quality.
The impact on water use begins when water is acquired for use in oil and gas wells, but it doesn’t end there. Water quality can be affected when it’s mixed with chemical additives for injection, pumped under high pressure to split rock layers, returned from the well and disposed or reused, said the EPA. Fracking fluids may be spilled, or may seep into groundwater and surface water. They can also cause gases and fluids to move into groundwater resources.
In a significant change, EPA deleted an earlier finding of “no evidence that fracking systematically contaminates water,” said the New York Times. It quoted EPA science advisor Thomas Burke as saying, “EPA’s scientists chose not to include that sentence. The scientists concluded it could not be quantitatively supported.”
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to expand fracking, said the Times, and his nominee for EPA administrator, Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt, ” has built his career on fighting EPA regulations on energy exploration.”
Critics say fracking damages water supplies and blame it for causing earthquakes.