The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs yesterday published a previously redacted paper in full yesterday which highlighted potential adverse impacts from fracking on groundwater resources and the UK’s water infrastructure.

Defra has released its study into the impacts of fracking following a year-long transparency campaign by Greenpeace, which culminated in a ruling by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Defra has prefaced the paper with a Covering Note which describes it as "an early draft of an internal document; it is not analytically robust", saying that work on it has since been discontinued. It also says that it contains no new evidence and simply refers to data from overseas studies which cannot be used to predict impacts in the UK with any degree of reliability. 

Defra said:

"The draft paper was intended as a review of existing literature. It includes early, often vague, assumptions which are not supported by appropriate evidence. These were never intended as considered Defra positions or as statements of fact."

While the redacted paper referred to some adverse impacts which could result from the use of hydraulic fracturing to produce shale gas, a complete section on environmental impacts which specifically looked at water was omitted.

The full paper says that impacts on water quality and quantity are the most highly publicised environmental effects associated with shale gas fracking, with potential human health consequences for local rural communities.

On quantities used, it points out that hydraulic fracking increases the amount of fresh water used by each shale gas well by as much as 100 times the quantity used in conventional drilling, commenting that the Institute of Directors has estimated that water use for shale gas could reach 5.4 million m3 a year, around 0.05% of the total.

On public health aspects, the paper states:

“In the US the chemicals that are added to the water have raised public health concerns related to surface water and groundwater quality. Although chemical additives used in fracturing fluids typically make up less than 2 percent by weight of the total fluid they do include biocides, surfactants, viscosity modifiers, and emulsifiers which vary in toxicity.”

“A proportion of the fluids used in drilling returns to the surface; these “flowback” or “produced” fluids may contain hydraulic fracturing chemicals, as well as heavy metals, salts, and naturally occurring radioactive material from below ground. This water must be treated, recycled, or disposed of safely otherwise surface water may be contaminated by leaking on-site storage ponds, surface runoff, spills, or flood events. There is a risk that even if contaminated surface water does not directly impact drinking water supplies, it can affect human health indirectly through consumption of contaminated wildlife, livestock, or agricultural products.”

“Experience from the US indicates that leakage of waste fluids from the drilling and fracking processes has resulted in environmental damage. Although it is unlikely that contamination will occur via the artificially created fractures in the rock, leaks can potentially occur through faulty well construction or from surface spillage of drilling and fracking related fluids (IEA, 2012; The Royal Society, 2012).”

“Royal Society research shows that the majority of incidents of contamination in the US occurred under historically weaker environmental standards than are currently adhered to and that the UK regulatory environment is likely to be more robust. For instance, waste fluids will need to be stored in sealed steel tanks rather than open ponds, which reduce the risk of leakage.”

It also draws attention to an Environmental Impact Assessment commissioned by the Department for Energy and Climate Change which identified that the additional volume of waste water could place “a significant burden on existing treatment infrastructure capacity, and require further or new investment.”

The full paper also states:

“Overall the potential impacts on water resource availability, aquatic habitats and ecosystems and water quality is uncertain.“

Click here to download the full paper