Fracking is destroying U.S. water supply, warns shocking new study

The following article by Joe Romm was posted on the ThinkProgress website August 17, 2018:

Toxic wastewater from fracking jumps 14-fold from 2011 to 2016 — and it may get 50 times bigger by 2030.

The Monterey Shale formation near Lost Hills, CA. Critics of fracking cite concerns over water usage and possible chemical pollution of ground water sources as farmers are forced to leave unprecedented expanses of fields fallow in one of the worst droughts in California history. Credit: David McNew, Getty Images

An alarming new study reveals fracking is quite simply destroying America’s water supply.

That means we are losing potable water forever in many semi-arid regions of the country, while simultaneously producing more carbon pollution that in turn is driving ever-worsening droughts in those same regions, as fracking expert Anthony Ingraffea, a professor at Cornell University, explained to ThinkProgress.

The game-changing study from Duke University found that “from 2011 to 2016, the water use per well increased up to 770 percent.” In addition, the toxic wastewater produced in the first year of production jumped up to 1440 percent.

View the complete article here.