Hydraulic Fracturing Induced Contaminant Pathways in Groundwater

Hydraulic fracturing in areas of natural gas production has been the cause of several environmental issues, notably among them is groundwater contamination. Proponents of hydraulic fracturing argue the improbability of induced contaminant pathways in groundwater since the annuli are sealed and the reservoirs lay thousands of feet below the water table, but opponents have cited a change in ground water quality over time. An ArcGIS model is created in this thesis to analyze groundwater quality data with respect to the relative proximity of gas wells, knowledge of the reservoir pressure gradient, gas well characteristics, and fracture treatment data in order to explore the relationship, if any, between groundwater quality changes and hydraulic fracturing operations. Results indicate that elevated concentrations of certain groundwater constituents are related to natural gas production in the study area.Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department o

A Comprehensive Analysis of Groundwater Quality in The Barnett Shale Region

The exploration of unconventional shale energy reserves and the extensive use of hydraulic fracturing during well stimulation have raised concerns about the potential effects of unconventional oil and gas extraction (UOG) on the environment. Most accounts of groundwater contamination have focused primarily on the compositional analysis of dissolved gases to address whether UOG activities have had deleterious effects on overlying aquifers. Here, we present an analysis of 550 groundwater samples collected from private and public supply water wells drawing from aquifers overlying the Barnett shale formation of Texas. We detected multiple volatile organic carbon compounds throughout the region, including various alcohols, the BTEX family of compounds, and several chlorinated compounds. These data do not necessarily identify UOG activities as the source of contamination; however, they do provide a strong impetus for further monitoring and analysis of groundwater quality in this region as many of the compounds we detected are known to be associated with UOG techniques