Fracturing a Better Future

     The amount of water needed for hydraulic fracturing varies by lateral length, but a typical well uses around five million barrels throughout its lifetime.  That equates to around 85 billion gal of water used per year just in the United States [15]!  With forty of the fifty states expecting shortages in some portion of the state under average conditions in the next forty years, it seems like a gross misutilization of this resource [16].  The United States’ water usage is 44,200 million barrels per day and will only increase with population and industrial growth.  This will cause a strain on the supply as water resources are exploited faster than they can recover. Two good examples are the Colorado River and Lake Mead.   Due to climate change and irrigation, the Colorado River’s flow will decrease 5-40% over the next forty years.  It’s delta has shrunk from 3,000 square miles to only 250 square miles and will only continue to shrink in the future.  Arizona and Nevada’s Lake Mead has seen its water level drop by 130 feet since 2000 and some researchers claim it will be dry by 2021 [17].

     Further complicating the issue of water usage is the United Nations adoption of General Comment No. 15 in November 2002.  Article I.1 states, “The human right to water is indispensable for leading a life in human dignity.  It is a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights.”  It also states the right of everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, and affordable water for personal and domestic use [18]. With other countries facing problems providing clean water to its people, switching to a fracturing method that can diminish or erase the need for water will have a positive global impact in providing millions of gallons of clean and drinkable water to those in need. Non-hydraulic fracturing methods using gases such as LPG and CO2 save copious amounts of consumable water while still allowing companies to recover resources that are indispensable to U.S. consumers.