Prediction: We Are Frackin' F***ed

In this world of low-flow toilets and shower heads, and toothpaste ads telling us not to run water in the sink while brushing, there was this in today's news:

FracFocus, an oil/gas industry group, acknowledged that the amount of water used in fracking here in Ohio is up.  Up how much?  FracFocus puts it at 35-40 million gallons more than last year.  Somewhere around there.  Give or take.

Too much of the fracking process is shrouded in secrecy, including water usage.  You may be certain that industry estimates are low -- always.  This industry is so sneaky that estimates are all we have.

One of 500+ frack water impoundment pits in western Pa.
These are temporary plastic-lined storage "ponds."
Eventually, this "water" is pumped into tanker trucks
and delivered to injection well sites, many in Ohio.

• In 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the average frack well used 5.1 million gallons of water, and the EPA estimated there were 35,000 fracking wells in America using between 70 to 140 billion gallons of water per year in total.  
• FracFocus estimates that by 2014, the average frack well used 7.6 million gallons of water.  
• A report from EnvironmentAmerica.org estimated that by 2014, we were up to 82,000 fracking wells using about 280 billion gallons of water per year.

However you friggin' estimate it, fracking uses terrific quantities of water.  More accurately, it wastes that water.  Frack water is "enhanced" with chemicals and sand, and after a well is fracked, becomes a toxic soup unfit for any purpose, and a disposal problem.  It simply cannot be permitted to return to the water cycle.  So what to do with it?  Around here, the frackers "inject" their poison water into underground storage wells, and then vamoose and hope for the best.  Out of sight, out of mind.  Brilliant!

It is fair to say that America is wasting roughly 300 billion gallons of fresh, clean water each year, due to fracking.

I wonder how they feel about that in Somalia.