NATURAL GAS EXTRACTION

WATER RECYCLING AND USAGE IN NEW YORK

Water is a precious natural resource – as is natural gas. A large part of our industry’s
commitment to responsible environmental stewardship revolves around our ability to be
conscious of community water needs and to continually advance our ability to ‘reduce, reuse
and recycle.’

The process of natural gas extraction has advanced over the past 60 years, and now through modern
technology, the natural gas community can access abundant and sustainable supplies of clean natural
gas from previously inaccessible rock formations. Today, the minimally invasive process involves drilling
a small hole (typically about 15” in diameter) more than a mile below the earth’s surface, which is lined
with multiple layers of steel encased in cement to protect any fresh water supplies and allow for the
safe extraction of natural gas. Then pressurized water, sand and additives are used to create small,
often millimeter-thick fissures in carefully targeted section of the shale rock. This releases the natural
gas, allowing it to safely rise to the surface via the self-contained system.

HOW MUCH WATER IS USED IN THE PROCESS?

A typical deep shale gas well stimulation
requires more than 3.5 million gallons of
water on average. This number is small
compared to the amount of water
continually required to generate power
from coal, nuclear and solar sources.
The amount of water used in natural gas
extraction generally represents a small
percentage of the total water-resource
use in each shale gas area (typically
between 0.1% and 0.8% of total water
use by basin).
Most producing shale basins are in areas with moderate to high levels of annual precipitation,
and many companies take advantage of seasonal precipitation, as well as continually exploring
innovative conservation efforts, such as recycling the water for use in similar projects in the
future.

HOW MUCH IS 3.5 MILLION GALLONS?

It’s the amount of water consumed by:
A 1,000 megawatt coal-fired plant in 8.5 hours
A 1,000 megawatt nuclear power plant in 4.5 hours
Six acres of corn in a season
Unlike these activities, which are continuous, natural gas wells use this process only a handful of times
over their 40- to-50-year life.
WHAT ADDITIVES ARE USED IN “FRACTURING FLUID?”
The mixture is approximately 99.5% freshwater and sand. The remaining 0.5% is highly diluted additives
found in common household products and the food we eat. This mixture is injected into the shale
formations and is confined by dense rock layers that are thousands of feet thick.

HOW SAFE IS NATURAL GAS EXTRACTION FOR WATER SUPPLIES?

Over the past 60 years, more than one million U.S. wells have been safely produced in the U.S.
using hydraulic fracturing.
The EPA, the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact
Commission have all studied hydraulic fracturing and found no threat to the environment and
public health.
The Ground Water Protection Council issued a report in April of 2009 stating that the potential
for hydraulic fracturing in deep shale gas wells to impact groundwater is extremely remote, as
low as one in 200 million.
New York’s environmental laws and regulations are among the most stringent in the
nation. New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) even suspended
Marcellus drilling for two years while it undertook the most comprehensive review of hydraulic
fracturing ever conducted in its Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS).
This has enabled the Empire State to develop a better understanding of shale gas extraction
technology than any other state and has enabled the NYSDEC to continue safeguarding New
York’s environment.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT: WWW.FRIENDSOFNATURALGASNY.ORG