Water, water everywhere . . . or not.
I posted last night about the unexpected surprise about the quality of my town's drinking water:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029206983
Why was it surprising? In the map below (taken from the article following), we're in the middle of the area in the red circle.
https://www.fractracker.org/2016/09/groundwater-threats-in-colorado/
from that article (and there's MUCH more):
"Numerous threats to groundwater are associated with oil and gas drilling, including hydraulic fracturing. Research from other regions shows that the majority of groundwater contamination events actually occur from on-site spills and poor management and disposal of wastes. Disposal and storage sites and spill events can allow the liquid and solid wastes to leach and seep into groundwater sources. There have been many groundwater contamination events documented to have occurred in this manner. For example, in 2013, flooding in Colorado inundated a main center of the state’s drilling industry causing over 37,380 gallons of oil to be spilled from ruptured pipelines and damaged storage tanks that were located in flood-prone areas. There are serious concerns that the oil-laced floodwaters have permanently contaminated groundwater, soil, and rivers."
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Water wars are not new to the West. But fracking brings those wars to a whole new dimension, given the industry's permanent poisoning of billions of gallons of irreplaceable water. It's damned near inevitable that, at some point, the poisoned water will migrate into pristine sources. No one is immune to that danger, no matter where you live. The planet is, after all, a finite system. PLEASE, take the time to read the article, you're worth it.
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