If water is the new oil and shale gas is the new
energy savior, something has to give. That’s because
the exploration for the unconventional form of
natural gas uses so much water that it is
encroaching on society’s other needs.
Not only do utilities consume it. So does big
industry and small residential households.
Complicating things, the demand for electricity in
this country is expected to rise by 1.5 percent over
the next 20 years. Governments and businesses alike
are now calling for concerted conservation efforts
and technological advances.
The debate is having practical implications on both
utilities and energy developers. A few years ago,
the states of Georgia and Alabama battled over
supplies during a severe drought in the southeastern
United States: Atlanta’s metropolitan area competes
directly with Alabama’s electric generators,
manufacturing facilities and farm businesses for the
region’s water. And, in Texas, the combination of
hot summers and water shortages are pitting farmers
against shale-gas developers.
“Freshwater resources around the world are under
threat from fossil fuel development, and these
threats are emerging in new places with rapid growth
in recent years of natural gas extraction from shale
using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing,”
says a report by Morgantown, WV-based
Downstream Strategies. “This technique has been
criticized for its environmental impacts, including
dewatering streams and surface-and-groundwater
pollution.”
The outfit examined water usage in the Marcellus
Shale region and specifically in Pennsylvania and
West Virginia. It says that between the two that 4.1
million to 5.6 million gallons of fresh water is
used per fractured well where 9,000 wells have been
permitted, which makes it the largest consumer
of water among the various shale formations.
Fuel Diversity
About 30 percent of the country’s electricity now
comes from natural gas, which is an increase of 7
percent from a decade ago, says the U.S. Energy
Information Administration. Of that, shale gas makes
up about 25 percent. In West Virginia, for example,
surface waters are mostly used to feed the need, but
only 8 percent is recycled; the rest remains
underground. Nationally, Downstream says that in
2006 there were 35,000 wells that had been fractured
that had required as much as 140 billion gallons per
year of water.
“With the boom in shale gas production not starting
in earnest until 2008, the volume of water required
to frack for natural gas has increased by an order
of magnitude or more,” says Downstream.
According to the
World Policy Institute, coal-and-oil-fired power
plants consume roughly twice the water than that of
gas-fired facilities while nuclear generation needs
three times that of natural gas. Cleaner coal
technologies such as coal gasification will reduce
that need by as much as half but, emerging concepts
like carbon capture and burial could increase
consumption between 30-100 percent.
Wind and rooftop solar panels, meantime, are the
most efficient forms of generation when it comes to
water. However, large and commercial solar plants
use twice the water as coal and five times the
amount as gas-fired plants. Further, corn-based
bio-fuels used in transportation consume much
greater amounts of water than does the drilling for
traditional oil.
The
National Energy Technology Laboratory adds that
average thermoelectric plants account for 48 percent
of total withdrawals. But newer plants here are more
efficient and they are able to recirculate water or
use dry cooling, which is technically referred to
once-through cooling.
“In short, the true scale of water impacts can still
only be estimated, and considerable improvements in
industry reporting, data collection and sharing, and
regulatory enforcement are needed,” concludes
Downstream. “The challenge of appropriately handling
a growing volume of waste to avoid environmental
harm will continue to loom large unless such steps
are taken.”
Water shortages would hit every aspect of society,
especially utilities that are the underpinnings of
economic growth. While newer technologies are
integral to water preservation, it is clear that the
such threats are often dismissed but really do
necessitate more fuel diversity and greater energy
efficiency.
Twitter: @Ken_Silverstein
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