Hydraulic fracturing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hydraulic fracturing - Essay Example After hydraulic fracturing, the pressure in the well is dropped and the water containing unconfined natural gas flow back to the well head at the surface leading to the formation of dykes and veins. Moreover, devoid of hydraulic fracturing, shale deposits would not generate natural gas and most low-permeability deposits would not be economical. Concerns about the excessive use of hydraulic fracturing have been raised by the public in the United States, and world wide due to the large volumes of water needed, the chemicals added to fracturing fluids, and the need to dispose off the fluids after wells have been accomplished. Consequently, the environmental impacts of â€Å"hydraulic fracturing† include contamination of aquifers and ground water. By far, this is the most serious local environmental concern and possibly the most controversial concern. The potential threat to ground water comes from two sources namely the pumped fluid comprising of the mixture of water plus chemical, surface spills and the released natural gas. Secondly, chemical additives impact. Indeed, defining the acidic level of additives used in the fracking phase should be rather modest and measurable scientific duty; nevertheless, in some countries fracking enterprises are under no lawful obligation to proclaim the correct alignment of this mixture. The third impact is blow outs whereby if the liquid pumped does not break the rock volume around the bottom of the well as projected. As a result, the high fluid pressure drives the fluid into other open and other leaking paths. The paths include the pumping well bore, as well as other boreholes in the surrounding area that are not ceiled fully to accommodate the high pressures. This results to, explosive outbreak of drilling fluids and/or oil and gas from the adjacent wells resulting to pre-existing pervious connectivity at depth. The fourth