Fracking poses ‘zero per cent’ risk to water safety, insists fracking firm

There is a “zero per cent” chance that the public water supply will be polluted by the fracking process, Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan has declared.

Speaking at a select committee hearing, he said: “The likelihood of people’s water being polluted by fracturing fluid in the UK is zero. The cases you see in the US, where methane allegedly comes out of people’s taps, are exclusively from when people drill water wells in their own properties to access water supply.”

He continued: “In the UK 99.5 per cent of our water comes from public utilities. They don’t take it out of the ground and put it into our taps. The Environment Agency will not approve fracturing fluid which is hazardous to groundwater.”

Fracturing fluid consists mainly of water, but also contains chemical additives which vary depending on the conditions of the well being fractured. Typically the fracture treatments use 3 to 12 chemicals, depending on the characteristics of the water and shale formation being fractured.

In January, after a great deal of resistance from green groups, Cuadrilla received the go-ahead from the Environment Agency (EA) for plans to extract shale gas at its Preston New Road site in Lancashire. The company said the environmental permit “unequivocally demonstrates” that the local environment will be well protected.

Director of UK-based oil and gas extraction company Third Energy, John Dewar agreed with Egan, stating that water contamination is “absolutely not a concern”.

Third Energy made an application to frack in the North Yorkshire village of Kirby Misperton in November last year. 

Dewar said: “Even if fracking fluid escaped the well, the water we’re using has got no chemicals that are hazardous to groundwater. It’s a prerequisite, it has to be approved [by the EA]. On top of that, the groundwater in that area is not used for public consumption. Water pollution in the area from this well is not an issue.”

In January, Labour succeeded in banning fracking in groundwater protection zones and 12 other amendments to the Infrastructure Bill to “tighten up” the regulations on fracking.

Environment secretary Liz Truss claimed that the amendments “were already government policy“. However, shadow environment secretary Maria Eagle said the government had “caved into Labour’s demands for extensive and robust regulation.”