This is a really old post so I don’t understand the sudden renewed interest by industry but HERE is an updated post.
This is not a sexy story. Nobody is getting blown up, although there are likely some who are dying the slow death of cancer caused by drinking polluted water. However, if this continues, it will soon be a very sexy story and we need someone sexy to help solve this problem. We can live without Iraq’s oil but we can’t live without water. Very soon water will not only be the sexy story, it will be the only story.
Take a look at this:
This is our water cycle and what you may notice is that we don’t get new water. Our same old water continually recycles itself. Another thing you might notice is there is no “God sending us more water” label. Many people where I live still believe that they can pray hard enough and God will send us more water.
Maybe, if we pray long enough and fervent enough and hard enough, God might send us some water, but that water would come from the water we already have that is a part of our water cycle and it would be at the expense of some other thirsty folks. And, when those people get thirsty enough and their prayers become long, fervent and hard enough, then God might send them water. Would that water God sent to them be our water? Would God be stealing our water to send to other thirsty people? Can you see how water wars get started? I witnessed the beginning of a potential water war Wednesday night and it was sickening.
The truth is that our planet came with all the water we needed as long as we took care of that water by being good stewards. But, we haven’t and we aren’t.
Our insatiable consumption of oil and gas and Big Oil’s insatiable greed has spawned the Barnett Shale’s insatiable thirst for fresh water. Now we can say goodbye to another 9 billion gallons of water per year.
From the Star Telegram we learn:
North Texas Living Water Resources, has acquired rights to nearly 9 billion gallons of water per year from the Brazos River and they plan to sell it to drilling companies for use in the Barnett Shale
According to the article, that’s just about enough water to supply the oil and gas drilling companies in Grandbury, where North Texas Living Water Resources is based, for one year. They use the water to fracture (frac) the limestone shale and release the gas.
To that 9 billion gallons of water add the figures from my research:
Only I was corrected by Big Oil who said that Barnett Shale wells are only fractured once, which by now we all know is a lie because I caught them in it. And if that’s not enough, at the Barnett Shale Oil and Gas Symposium in Fort Worth, we were assured that horizontal wells are always fractured only once. But, that’s not true either because all the brand new, as of May, horizontal wells at DFW Airport are already on a schedule to be refraced starting now.
If you add only the 9 billion gallons that will be siphoned out of the Brazos in Granbury ( not counting other surface water sources or the ground water wells ) and another 10 billion gallons in Wise County ( from my rough estimate ), then consider the area that the Barnett Shale covers also consider that there is shale drilling taking place all over the United States… Are you scared yet?
My friends, that’s a whole lot of water. That water is not recoverable. It’s ruined. Hundreds of Billions of gallons of water every year, ruined and pumped down into waste disposal injection wells.
Look, again, at our water cycle. Do you ever wonder what’s going to happen because we’re removing so much water from our water cycle? I do. It keeps me up nights.
Now here’s something sexy that might help me sleep better.
We need Rick Noriega for our US Senator. Help get him elected by filling his boots.
Illustration Credit: John M. Evans, USGS, Colorado District
Edited with additional information
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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Good post.
I live in the middle of 12 gas wells and feel as if I am living over a pilot light for an explosion.
I read that our area is the richest gas deposit in the U.S. Is that true?
Yep. It’s true. Someone at the GCD meeting on Wednesday evening told me it was the richest in the world but I haven’t tried to verify it.
Bless your heart. Please move and do not drink the water!
I have a blog containing good information on global warming. Ozone has doubled since the mid-19th century due to chemical emissions from vehicles, industrial processes and the burning of forests, the British climate researchers wrote. Carbon dioxide has also risen over that period. History of global warming is very deep since 1850.
There is a country on our planet, where scientists got their achievements recognized worldwide. It’s a large and powerful country where nowadays money rules. But it wasn’t this way before – scientific potential and arms force used to be in value. The best minds of the country worked in secret military bases and invented plenty of powerful new weapons. Some examples of those are still thought to be matchless. Great amount of money was assigned for development of chemical weapons and protection from those, as well.
In case of any chemical attack water and air are the first to be affected. That is why serious developments were held for protection of water from chemical contamination.
As far back as in 1970-s there’d been filters invented, which greatly surpassed the developments of that time period. These filters improved year to year. In 1988 the final results of chemicals’ work were presented.
It was sorbent (purifying substance) which has no analogue. It easily purified water from filth, poisons and bacteria. It’s small weight and dimension, accessible and cheap raw and the purification severities were surprising. This seemed to be incredible.
This was the last year of scientific achievements in this field. By the end of the year the laboratories and the production sites were closed. This invention was not added to the country’s armory. This was done deliberately. People, who did it, looked many years ahead of time. They knew the importance and the significance of this invention in the future.
There’s also information on the results of cheap sea water de-salting without external sources of energy.
What about the present? Nowadays the rescue service of this country actively helps other countries in liquidation of natural disasters and other natural cataclysm. It uses water purification filters on contaminated territories of course. And those are developments of the 1970-s. They demonstrate lower results than that of the later examples. But even they greatly surpass the up-to-date analogues of other countries. Filters are not sold in the internal market of the country. They are released for a very small group of people only.
The developments of 1988 are classified as secret. Very few people know they exist. People, possessing technical documents on this sorbent, attentively watch the situation on the globe. They think that the price on water is not high enough for them to declare of themselves. When the situation becomes critical and the cost of 1 liter of water is really high these inventions will be patented and given away. Of course, the “saviors of the world” will multiply their finances. And for the sake of their own interest in every country they will have a “telling argument”- water. We suggest that filters themselves will not be sold. Only the pure water will be sold, which is much more profitable. Now oil flows through pipelines to many countries, and in the future water will.
About us.
We are a group of scientists-chemists. In the past most of us worked in secret military bases of this country. Some directly participated in projects for evolving water from chemically-aggressive liquid mixes. Some performed purification of air from contaminants.
We saw how it worked and we declare that no other country will be able to reproduce this technology in the nearest 30-40 years. You need to know accurately where, what and how one should be looking for. We do know all that. That’s why we are confidently sure that we will be able to reproduce the sorbent production technology in the nearest 3 years, with the sufficient amount of money available.
We do not let out our names. We know there are particular forces that will impede us. But there are also countries and people, that will support us.
We do not involve investments or credits, as this would put up the price of the product. We are opposed to it. Our motto is – “accessible water for everyone”.
We consider ourselves a charity organization. All the means, received with the help of this web-site, shall be considered donations and shall be spent only and fully on “solving the water issue”.
First of all, we see “the solution of water issue” in:
In reproducing the sorbent production technology of 1988 and its improvement.
…………….
http://www.sixhundredmilliondollars.com
What do you think about companies like Gulftex Operating?
Today Gulftex Operating, Inc. has an ongoing exploration, drilling and production track record taking part in over 35 wells in the Barnett Shale. The Gulftex record includes powerful 19 wells in the core area of the Barnett Shale. Tim Burroughs, President of Gulftex Operating, Inc. has spent the last 14 years building Gulftex Operating, Inc.
Sharon,
I'm working for a TX House candidate that has some of the Barnett shale under his district. Not exactly sure how the campaign will approach this issue, but I'd really like to talk to you.
Hunt up StrandedWind on Twitter and you'll find a phone number for me. nrauhauser at gmail if you just want to drop me a note. I'm around all day …
Neal