Over the years we have received a number of emails from people who say we ‘grossly exaggerate the truth’ about the state of this country’s drinking water supply and accuse us of ‘misleading people’ or ‘blowing things out of proportion’.
To all those people we say, “Go ahead. Keep thinking this country will have safe, clean potable water forever. Ever notice a recurring theme in ‘futuristic’ movies? Civilizations in a good number of those movies seemed to have a limited supply of fresh water. Examples: Mad Max, Book of Eli and Waterworld (ironic, yes we know) just to name a few.”
Getting to the point, though, farmers in Kansas currently find their needs for water to irrigate their fields at odds with the needs of oil/gas companies looking to strike it rich using hydraulic fracturing in the shale formations deep below the Earth’s surface… because each fracking venture requires 2 million gallons of water.
Keep in mind that Kansas has just come off a very bad drought and municipalities in some parts of the State have already started putting water use restrictions in place. We have not even made it to the midpoint of June, mind you, so just think about how dire the farmers’ water needs may become a month from now if Mother Nature does not pull through with some wet weather.
If not carefully monitored the oil companies could very easily drain the region dry. Pun intended. Learn more about the battle between farmers and oil companies over water right in Kansas here.
Testing water near hydraulic fracturing
Unless you know the quality of your water before drilling starts, you will have one heck of a hard time proving that drilling caused a change in the quality of your water… so test your water for everything you can afford before the drilling starts!
