Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, injects high
pressure volumes of water, sand and chemicals into existing wells
to unlock natural gas and oil. The technique essentially
fractures the rock to get to the otherwise unreachable deposits.
Extracting fossil fuels from underground reservoirs requires so
much water a Chevron scientist once referred to its operations
in California’s Kern River Oilfield “as a water company that
skims oil.” Fracking operations use roughly 1.5 million to 16
million gallons per well to release oil and gas from shale,
according to the U.S. Geological Survey. All that water returns
to the surface as wastewater called flowback and produced
water, or PFW, contaminated by a complex jumble of hazardous
substances in fluids injected to enhance production, salts,
metals and other harmful elements once sequestered deep
underground, along with their toxic breakdown products.
Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, injects high
pressure volumes of water, sand and chemicals into existing wells
to unlock natural gas and oil. The technique essentially
fractures the rock to get to the otherwise unreachable deposits.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at hydraulic
fracturing, or “fracking,” in California. Much of the information
in the article was presented at a conference hosted by the
Groundwater Resources Association of California.
It may surprise some people to know that California is the fourth
largest producer of crude oil in the United States and has a long
history of oil exploration. Since the 1860s, wells in Kern County
and Southern California have been tapped for more than 500,000
barrels of oil each day.
