The people of Barnhart, a tiny West Texas community near San Angelo, are certainly paying attention. Thanks to frackings outsized water demands, the town well has gone dry. The towns water crisis brings to mind another old saw: The prospect of being hanged focuses the mind wonderfully. In Barnhart, where a severe and lingering drought already had put a strain on the water supply, minds are focused these days, though not so wonderfully. A recent story in the Guardian noted that ranchers have had to dump their herds, farmers have lost their crops and residents are being forced to live with water rationing. In addition, the area aquifer is being strained. Still, the oil industry continues to demand water, and those with water on their land are still willing to sell it.Every month, oil and gas companies dispose of 290 million barrels of wastewater from fracking. Thats the equivalent of 18,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools, Luke Metzger of Environment Texas points out. Thats water that can never be used again - in a drought-debilitated state, no less. At least partial solutions are possible, including mandatory recycling, saline or brackish water use and waterless fracking, but Texas lawmakers, for the most part, have allowed the industry to have its way.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 19:32:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015