Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 February 2022
The chapter evaluates the origin of natural gas, the principles of hydraulic fracturing, and provides the magnitude of water use for hydraulic fracturing, conventional gas drilling, and electricity generation. The chapter presents the changes of the water footprint of hydraulic fracturing and water intensity over time in the USA and China. The chapter draws upon data from emerging scientific reports in the USA to explore the global implications of unconventional energy for other countries with shale gas potential. The chapter presents the major organic constituents associated with frac water used for hydraulic fracturing. The origin, geochemistry, and volume of flowback and produced water and their impact on water resources are also presented. The chapter discusses the chemical composition of produced and flowback waters, the contaminants in these wastes. The chapter explores the debate on the effect of stray gas contamination. The chapter discusses the mechanisms of potential groundwater and surface water contamination. The chapter evaluates the mechanism of coalbed methane extraction and environmental implications. The chapter discusses the different regulations and possible safeguards to protect fresh water resources from hydraulic fracturing.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.