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The production of shale gas in the UK could place a “substantial burden” on the existing wastewater treatment capacity, according to a report commissioned for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc).
The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) report, produced by AMEC, said under a “high activity” scenario, up to 108 million cubic metres of wastewater that required treatment could be produced per annum.
This would represent 3 per cent of the UK’s annual wastewater, although the report added “on site treatment and reuse could reduce the volumes of wastewater generated and lessen any effects on offsite treatment infrastructure capacity”.
The report also noted “that the industry is not expected to be at a substantial scale before the 2020s and this will allow time for further investment and development in treatment infrastructure”.
Water UK and the UK Onshore Operators Group (UKOOG) signed a memorandum of understanding at the end of November stating they would work together to minimise the impact of shale gas development on water resources.
A spokesman from Water UK said: “Taking the wastewater away after it has been used for fracking was one of the risks we’ve been highlighting all along.
“Water UK and UKOOG will aim to sort all of these issues out, and the report puts a number behind the risk.
“We’re going to look into this more and it’s something new we can talk with UKOOG about.”
The SEA report also highlighted that in a “high activity” shale gas scenario, up to 8.64 billion cubic feet of gas could be produced during the 2020s – up to three times the current UK annual gas demand.
This increase in gas production is expected to have a “negligible effect on overall national emissions” because shale gas is likely to replace liquefied natural gas.
The report also stated under the “high activity” scenario, up to 32,000 full time jobs could be created, and almost £1 billion could be paid out in community benefits.
Energy minister Michael Fallon said: “There could be large amounts of shale gas available in the UK, but we won’t know for sure until the scale of this prize until further exploration takes place.”
He added: “It is an exciting prospect, which could bring growth, jobs and energy security.”
Jennifer Ballantyne, energy and planning specialist at law firm Pinsent Masons, said: “We need to apply a can-do attitude to shale gas in the UK – an attitude that seeks to inform communities and promote a diversified energy mix.”
She added: “This will foster transparency and trust and demonstrate to communities exactly how they will directly benefit from this new energy resource.”
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