‘Plan to Study the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources,’ was released by the EPA on November 1. Read an industry response to the study here.
“The study has been designed to assess the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources and to identify the driving factors that affect the severity and frequency of any impacts,” it says in the executive summary.
The study outlines several basic questions with the promise that a dedicated team of scientists will begin providing answers in 2012.
Here are the questions:
• Water Acquisition: What are the potential impacts of large volume water withdrawals from ground and surface waters on drinking water resources?
• Chemical Mixing: What are the possible impacts of surface spills on or near well pads of hydraulic fracturing fluids on drinking water resources?
• Well Injection: What are the possible impacts of the injection and fracturing process on drinking water resources?
• Flowback and Produced Water: What are the possible impacts of surface spills on or near well pads of flowback and produced water on drinking water resources?
• Wastewater Treatment and Waste Disposal: What are the possible impacts of inadequate treatment of hydraulic fracturing wastewaters on drinking water resources?
