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La Niña Could Bring More Drought to Texas | KUT News
After the brutal drought of 2011, welcome rains this year put minds at ease in many parts of Texas. But any respite may be short-lived.
The best hope Texas had for a full recovery from its long drought was a wet upcoming winter. But recent weather models show thats growing less and less likely. The reason? The El Niño weather pattern meteorologists expected is not forming in the Atlantic.
5 Reasons Natural Gas Wont Be an Environmental and Economic Savior | Alternet
3. Water Consumption
Fracking is water intensive. It can take anywhere from 2 million to 13 million gallons of water to frack a single well and more water is needed to drill the well. Additionally wells are often fracked multiple times, some times as many as 18 times. Where does all that water come from? The Pacific Institute reports:
1,000 cities in Texas have water restrictions.
Irony of ironies, Texas' Frackers will probably run out of water before they are able to extract every last ounce of gas and oil.
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La Niña Could Bring More Drought to Texas | KUT News
After the brutal drought of 2011, welcome rains this year put minds at ease in many parts of Texas. But any respite may be short-lived.
The best hope Texas had for a full recovery from its long drought was a wet upcoming winter. But recent weather models show thats growing less and less likely. The reason? The El Niño weather pattern meteorologists expected is not forming in the Atlantic.
5 Reasons Natural Gas Wont Be an Environmental and Economic Savior | Alternet
3. Water Consumption
Fracking is water intensive. It can take anywhere from 2 million to 13 million gallons of water to frack a single well and more water is needed to drill the well. Additionally wells are often fracked multiple times, some times as many as 18 times. Where does all that water come from? The Pacific Institute reports:
Water for hydraulic fracturing is typically withdrawn from one location or watershed over several days. Additionally, in some cases, the water is taken from remote, often environmentally sensitive headwater areas (Beauduy 2011, 34), where even small withdrawals can have a significant impact on the flow regime. As a result, while fracking may account for a small fraction of a states or even a basins water supply, there can be more severe local impacts.
Additionally, much of the water injected underground is either not recovered or is unfit for further use once it is returned to the surface, usually requiring disposal in an underground injection well. This water use represents a consumptive use if it is not available for subsequent use within the basin from which it was extracted. In some cases, water is treated and reused for subsequent fracking jobs, although this is still fairly uncommon, and no national estimate on the prevalence of this practice is available.
Already states like Texas and Pennsylvania have run into conflicts with fracking due to water shortages. And things are likely to get worse, as the Pacific Institute states, In many basins, the application of fracking is still in its infancy and continued development could dramatically increase future water requirements and further intensify conflicts with other uses.
1,000 cities in Texas have water restrictions.
Irony of ironies, Texas' Frackers will probably run out of water before they are able to extract every last ounce of gas and oil.
.