On June 4th,
2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its draft
assessment of the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing
for oil and gas on drinking water resources to the Science Advisory Board for
public comment and peer review.
This draft is aimed at
providing “available scientific literature and data to assess the potential for
hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas to change the quality or quantity of
drinking water resources, and identifies factors affecting the frequency or severity
of any potential changes.”
In the draft
assessment, EPA concluded that “there are above and below ground mechanisms by
which hydraulic fracturing activities have the potential to impact drinking water
resources . . . includ[ing] water
withdrawals in times of, or in areas with, low water availability; spills of
hydraulic fracturing fluids and produced water; fracturing directly into
underground drinking water resources; below ground migration of liquids and
gases; and inadequate treatment and discharge of wastewater.”
EPA, however, determined
that there is no evidence that “these mechanisms have led to widespread,
systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United States.”
Additionally, EPA found that the number of problems “was small compared to the
number of hydraulically fractured wells.”
As part of their
assessment, EPA also released twenty
peer-reviewed technical research papers the same day.
Further information on
EPA’s study of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas and its potential impact on
drinking water resources can be found at http://www2.epa.gov/hfstudy.
Written by Chloe Marie - Research Fellow
06/05/2015
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