ESTIMATES ON WATER AND
TOXICS REQUIRED FOR 380,000 MINIMUM PREDICTED WELLS TO BE FRACKED JOBS
IN STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA (ALONE)
In a series of articles in the Times Tribune, June 20-21,
2010, by Laura Legere, was a quote in the article, Troubled Promise:
Little oversight, looming problems for Pa. gas industry, that in
the course of this century the gas industry has estimated it will drill
between "380,000 to 760,000 wells," in the State of Pennsylvania alone.
Based on these total estimates, the required uses of fresh water, frack
sand (proppants), and toxics, amongst the many other multiple
requirements, are staggering.
Here are the estimate requirements for fresh water and toxics alone for
the 380,000 wells scenario, the lowest predicted number, with the
lowest required ten fracks per well:
For the lowest usage scenario of 10 fracks for each of
all the 380,000 wells, is a total of 3.8 million fracks.
For 3.8 million fracks, at 2,000 cubic meters of water
per frack, requires a volume of water measuring 7.6 billion cubic
meters.
That's a cubic area measuring about 1,966 meters long,
and wide and high, an equivalent of 6,450 feet long, wide and high, or
1.22 miles long, wide and high.
There are 38 million cubic meters of of toxics required
(based on today's technology for fracking) for 7.6 billion cubic meters
of water, for this lowest usage estimate. That's a cubic
area measuring 336 meters long, wide and high, the equivalent of 1,102
feet long, wide, and high.
(Note: one cubic meter of water = 220 imperial (Canadian) gallons, or
260 U.S. gallons; one frack, for deep shale fracking, requires at least
2,000 to 4,000 cubic meters of water; 0.5% of each water frack volume
is the estimated inclusion of toxics.)
380,000 wells @ 10
fracks @ 2,000 cubic meters of water per frack = 7,600,000,000
cubic meters
of water (1.672 trillion imperial gallons, or 1.976 trillion U.S.
gallons of water). That’s 38
million cubic meters of toxics (8,360,000,000 imperial gallons, or
9,880,000,000 U.S.
gallons) required, as 0.5% of the volume of water.
380,000 wells @ 10
fracks @ 3,000 cubic meters of water per frack = 11,400,000,000
cubic
meters of water (2.508 trillion imperial gallons, or 2.964 trillion U.S.
gallons).That’s 57 million cubic meters
of toxics (12,540,000,000 imperial gallons, or 14,820,000,000 U.S.
gallons)
required, as 0.5% of the volume of water.
380,000 wells @ 15
fracks @ 2,000 cubic meters of water per frack = 11,400,000,000
cubic
meters of water (2.508 trillion imperial gallons, or 2.964 trillion U.S.
gallons).That’s 57 million cubic meters
of toxics (12,540,000,000 imperial gallons, or 14,820,000,000 U.S.
gallons) required, as 0.5% of
the volume of water.
380,000 wells @ 15
fracks @ 3,000 cubic meters of water per frack = 17,100,000,000
cubic
meters of water (3.762 trillion imperial gallons, or 4.446 trillion U.S.
gallons). That’s
85.5 million cubic meters of toxics (18.810 trillion imperial gallons,
or 22.23
trillion U.S.
gallons) required, as 0.5% of the volume of water.
380,000 wells @ 20
fracks @ 2,000 cubic meters of water per frack = 15,200,000,000
cubic
meters of water (3.344 trillion imperial gallons, or 3.952 trillion U.S.
gallons). That’s
76 million cubic meters of toxics (16.72 trillion imperial gallons, or
19.76
trillion U.S.
gallons) required, as 0.5% of the volume of water.
380,000 wells @ 20
fracks @ 4,000 cubic meters of water per frack = 30,400,000,000
cubic
meters of water (6.688 trillion imperial gallons, or 7.904 trillion U.S.
gallons). That’s
152 million cubic meters of toxics (33.44 trillion imperial gallons, or
39.52
trillion U.S.
gallons)
required, as 0.5% of the volume of water.