Fracking It is a natural gas extraction technique from hydraulic fracturing. It is about being able to extract gas or oil through a previously built, cased and cemented well where one or more channels are generated through which high pressure water is injected. The pressure with which the water is injected must be greater than the resistance of the rock in order to open a fracture and extract the hydrocarbon.
Well, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) The US has warned that the use of fracking to extract oil and gas can negatively affect the supply of drinking water.
During gas extraction using the fracking technique, it is possible to pollute underground water reserves of drinking water with which the population is supplied. The federal agency has warned this because it can generate spills of chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing to maintain the fracture. It can also affect areas where little drinking water is available and are diminished by pollution.
However, in a study conducted by the EPA in 2010 could not provide enough arguments in order to fully assess the possible impacts that fracking produces on drinking water resources at the local and national level.
The debate on all this arises from the fact that fracking faces two very important interests: the economy and the supply of drinking water. The environmental impact of fracking negatively affects the benefits obtained since it was the engine of the last energy "boom" in the US until it stopped being profitable due to the fall in oil prices caused by an increase in oil production in many countries.
That is why, today, the EPA warns that with climate change water resources will be dwindling and may be endangered by the use of fracking for the extraction of gas or oil.