Also in this series:
Q&A: Is there a risk to water contamination?
Q&A: Is there a risk to water stress?
A national dialogue has begun between the water industry and the onshore oil and gas industry says Water UK, as concerns were raised last month about fracking and its impact on Britain’s water supply.
This came in response to Water UK’s call on 19 July for greater clarity into the shale gas industry’s water needs and impacts.
Two impact assessment reports released by the Environment Agency (EA) and Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) also confirm there are water-related risks throughout the entire fracking lifecycle.
Neil Dhot, head of corporate affairs at Water UK - which represents all major water suppliers - explained the need for debate and dialogue at a national level is “so that we establish what the issues are up front and plan for them.”
With only fresh water currently used for fracking, fears over water supply and resource competition (not to mention potential contamination of drinking water) are mounting. Could water be fracking’s limiting factor?
Dr Jim Marshall, Policy and Business Adviser at Water UK, believes it could be, stating in a 17 July speech at UK Shale 2013: “If we get it wrong then water has the potential to stop the industry in its tracks.”
Water plays a key role in the extraction process, with the fracking fluid typically consisting of 99 per cent water. However, the total amount of water required varies widely per well depending on the geology, depth and length of the well, and the number of times it is fracked.
The most recent estimate by DECC puts the amount of water required per well between 10,000 and 30,000 cubic metres.
Water UK estimates that, based on a demand of a 1000 well field, peak water demand could be about 2,000 cubic metres per day, equivalent to the water use of 13,000 people per day.
“The point is that we just don’t yet know how much water we are going to need,” said Dhot, who stressed that Water UK is neither for nor against fracking.
Resource competition
Currently, Cuadrilla Resources’ sole water provider is United Utilities in Lancashire, 90 per cent of whose water supply comes directly from surface water sources like rivers and reservoirs.
And, while the north of England is not water stressed, both Marshall and Dhot point out there is water scarcity in the south-east.
The EA report classifies the consequences of water acquisition for fracking as high-risk, citing impacts on water supplies for the natural environment as well as increasing competition for the resource.
The biggest impacts are most likely to be felt at a local and regional scale as opposed to at a national level. For example, Friends of the Earth point out that the Cuadrilla drilling near Blackpool is within the River Wyre catchment. And, according to the EA, all zones in this catchment are classified as either ‘over licenced,’ ‘over abstracted’, or ‘no water available’.
The concern over water competition is echoed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which states in a report that “the needs of water for exploration and the depletion of aquifers has (and will) create conflicts in water usages. Notably, competition with agricultural users is likely to be a serious issue”.
However, DECC does not expect fracking to have any impacts on agriculture. According to their report, “until some such possible threat has been identified, no monitoring activity would be meaningful or justified”.
In May, sustainability NGO Ceres issued a report on fracking in the States, revealing that a significant portion of US fracking is occurring in areas that are experiencing severe water stress such as Texas and Colorado, which are currently in the middle of a drought.
Indeed, it was recently reported that 30 towns in Texas are expected to be without water by the end of the year as a result of the combination of drought and fracking.
Based on data collected from over 25,000 shale oil and gas wells in the US by FracFocus.org and water stress indicator maps developed by the World Resources Institute, the Ceres report is part of a larger effort to analyse the water risks across the entire fracking lifecycle in North America.
“Climate change will only exacerbate water supply and demand imbalances,” the report warns, “shale energy development highlights the fact that our water resources were already vulnerable before additional demands were introduced.”
The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) recent report confirms these fears stating: “In areas of water scarcity, either now or due to climate change, the extraction of water for drilling and hydraulic fracturing may encounter serious constraints.”
Yet, it’s only recently that concerns have been voiced in the UK about water stress and fracking, with both the Cuadrilla-sponsored IoD report and United Utilities’ 2013 Draft Water Resources Management Plan stating that water is not a barrier to fracking, with no expected impact on the water resources available for household or industry use.
Barrier or not, the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) says that fracking “must not be allowed to conflict with water use for public water supply or that needed to maintain a healthy environment”.
If a situation of water stress, such as a drought, were to occur, United Utilities has assured residents that it would be Cuadrilla who would be the first to have its water supply reduced, not the residents.
Water competition, however, is not a new problem. “Absolutely [there is competition] and it is a constant challenge for water companies to meet the demands of their customers and others that require water,” said Dhot.
Professor of engineering at Cornell and co-author of the study which established fracking’s greenhouse-gas footprint, Dr Anthony Ingraffea, said: “Almost all forms of energy have substantial impacts on water quantity and water quality.”
“There could, and I stress could, be an issue about water resources, if fracking does turn out to be water intensive,” said Dhot.
Reducing the water used
Unfortunately, it looks unlikely that fracking will be anything but a water intensive process.
“Not without some breakthrough,” said Ingraffea, who’s been involved in hydraulic fracturing for 30 years.
“Is there going to be some magic solution, some miracle new technique for getting gas or oil out of shale that doesn’t require tens of millions of litres of water each time for each well? Good luck,” he said.
While technology for waterless onshore fracking does exist – such as the use of gelled liquid petroleum gas – there remains much concern surrounding the safety and cost of such a process. Instead, the industry’s only current option is to recycle the flowback water produced during fracking.
But even this only goes so far in reducing the total amount of water needed.
The Ceres report stresses that “overall water recycling and the use of non freshwater sources must increase considerably to make a significant impact.”
Yet it continues on, stating that “it is important to realise that recycling can only go so far in solving water sourcing problems since much of the water injected remains in the formation.”
In a statement received from Cuadrilla, they said: “In the development phase, [Cuadrilla’s] intention is to recycle flowback water at each site and this would significantly reduce water usage. However, current regulations mean that the company would be unable to do so at present.”
Over the next 20 years Ceres expects that American shale gas and oil production will rise by about 26 per cent. Given this trend, their report concludes that “investors should be asking if water management planning is getting sufficient attention from both industry and regulators.”
Further research is therefore needed to determine “whether this level of water use [for fracking] is appropriate in the long term” given that future climate change scenarios predict less water availability says CIWEM.
In response to the anticipated resource stress, Water UK is conducting its own report, due out early autumn, and is lobbying to have water companies incorporated into the planning process as consultees, with Marshall stressing that “direct communication links between operator and water company is essential”.
The bottom line, says Ceres, is that “shale energy development cannot grow without water.” But, for this growth to happen it means the shale industry must tap into valuable freshwater resources, imposing a significant demand on top of existing household and industry demand.
Water UK, as well as the Ceres report, stresses that water requirements could pose challenges to fracking and the key to moving forward and minimising risk is to develop a better understanding of industry needs and effective management of our water resources.
