Health Risks Involved in Hydraulic Fracturing

Health Risks Involved in Hydraulic Fracturing
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Hydraulic fracturing is a technique used to drill natural gas where sand particles, millions of liters of water and some chemicals (a mixture of these comprise the fracking fluid) are pumped into the ground to aid in breaking the rocks apart to release the natural gas. The mixture is pressurized to enable the fracturing process with the bore formed being maintained by sand particles after the hydraulic pressure is released from the well. Hydraulic fracturing involves four key processes:
Procuring the needed amount of water
Construction of the well
Stimulation of the well
Disposal of resulting wastes
In hydraulic fracturing, drilling is done past the water table into the coal bed, approximately 10,000 feet below the surface. The process involves pumping the fracturing mixture into the wellbore at a defined rate that would offer sufficient pressure to break apart the shale rocks. The size of the fracture formed is maintained by the introduction of a proppant like sand or ceramic grains that keep the bore formed open (a process referred to as propping) when the injection of the mixture into the ground is stopped. The rock (shale) being drilled into is usually impermeable necessitating the use of high pressures in the process (Bamberger, 2012). Therefore, the propped bore or fracture will form the permeable area to allow the passage of oil, gas and the fracking fluids into the well.
The fracking fluids may leak off into the surrounding permeable rocks at different heights in the ground seeping into the water table. Uncontrolled seepage will enhance different fluid interaction and may alter the geometry of the bore or propped fracture that would decrease the efficiency of the process besides having a load of environmental and health risks. The equipment used in hydraulic fracturing include the slurry blender, fracturing tanks, equipment for storage of the proppant and water, flexible hoses, gauges, pumps and the monitoring unit. Diesel usually powers. This heavy equipment like the pumps and often run continuously.
The purpose of the fracking fluid is to lubricate, extend the fractured bores and to convey the proppant into the intended shale bores underground. Water soluble gels like the guar gum increase the viscosity of the fracking fluid thereby helping the delivery of the proppant into the intended shale bores underground. The fracking fluid is majorly composed of water (about 90%), sand particles (about 9.5%) and chemical additives like the gel, acids, borate salts, polyacrylamide and compressed gases (like nitrogen and carbon dioxide) comprising about 0.5% (Gottardo, 2013). Recent developments have seen the development of fracking fluids from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and propane removing the need for use of water in the mixture. The choice of proppant for use depends on:
The required nature of permeability
The expected nature of grain strength
The nature and choice of fracking fluid also vary subject to the desired type of fracturing, the characteristics of the water being used and the conditions of the wells being fractured. Hydraulic fracturing increases the rate of recovery of fluids like petroleum, oil and gas from their natural reservoirs (Uddameri, 2015). It can also be used to:
The stimulation of groundwater wells
Generation of electricity
Measuring and analysis of stress in the earth
Disposal of wastes through injection into the thick underground rocks
Though hydraulic fracturing process has a broad scope of applications, it also has serious environmental and health risks that should regularly be assessed to ensure safer and better environment and health propositions. The risks and concerns in hydraulic fracturing include:
Air pollution
Disposal of wastes from the process
Earthquakes induced by the process
Contamination of water resources
Degradation of infrastructure
The workplace safety and exposure to the toxic chemicals
Gas explosions that may cause blowouts
The setting up of the well is actually the source of the contamination. As the process needs large quantities of water, this resource has to be stored for use during the process, for example, a single well could utilize up to 8 million gallons of water and 40,000 gallons of chemicals. The storage can be done on-site, in the injection wells or even in open air ponds. Air pollution by the components produced from the site can extend beyond to other areas that would increase the global warming rate (Colborn T, 2012). Pollutants like the dust, compressed gases (nitrogen dioxide) and the metals in the combustion of diesel fuel are capable of trapping more heat by their blanket cover in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide; this would accelerate the global warming rate posing a challenge to the environmental conservation. Other pollutants like the metals in the combustion of diesel fuel are carcinogenic and would also cause other short-term diseases and birth defects. The sand particles, for example, crystalline silica causes silicosis when inhaled by those within the environs of the well (Gottardo, 2013). It is recommended that those working in such environments wear respiratory guards for adequate protection.
Leaking of the fracking fluid at levels above the water table would cause seepage into the ground water that is usually accessible to the public once they mix with the resource from the rivers or lakes. Theoretically, it is recommended that the wells be encased up to and past the water table to reduce chances of leakage of the fracking fluid (Uddameri, 2015). Toxic chemicals are contained in the fracking fluid and are hazardous according to the Superfund Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). The watersheds that provide large amounts of water for consumption are vulnerable to contamination from these chemicals. A typical scenario was the reimbursement of the city of Poplar by three oil companies in the Ford Peck Reservation for the expenditures incurred due to the drilling contamination (Green, 2015). There is little or no accountability for what becomes of the water used in fracturing, the source of water used for these processes and also the percentage quantity of water in the fracking fluid and its condition after usage. Many companies dispose off th...