A new study from Duke University shows that a massive amount of water is being used for hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. That is the process used to extract shale gas and oil.
To get that gas and oil, you need water: lots of it, to blast into rocks. And as fracking operations expand, the amount of water used in the process has risen 770 percent.
There's also wastewater from the procedure - and that has increased by over 1400 percent.
Avner Vengosh is a professor at Duke University who co-authored the study.
“The industry has reduced the number of wells that they store in the last two years,” says Vengosh. “And that's making hydraulic fracturing, from their perspective, more efficient. Meaning that they would extract more oil and gas from a single well. But in this process, they have needed more water.”
Vengosh says recycling wastewater could reduce the amount of clean water being used, and help with overall water management.