BOSTON — A new report released by Bluefield Research, “Water for U.S. Hydraulic Fracturing: Competitive Strategies, Solutions, & Outlook, 2014-2020,” stated that water treatment and reuse are expected to significantly increase, accounting for 27 percent of total produced and flowback water by 2020, as a result of water supplies at risk, tighter regulations and increased costs of disposal, according to a press release.
Bluefield reported that wastewater treatment spending for fracking is expected to rise almost three-fold, from $138 million in 2014 to $357 million in 2020, stated the release.
The release continued that the U.S. fracking industry overall will spend $6.38 billion in 2014 on water management — water supply, storage, transport, treatment and disposal; and water transport and disposal costs will account for 66 percent of the total water management spent this year.
State regulators are starting to tighten the control of produced water disposal and in Pennsylvania, statewide treatment and reuse rates for the Marcelllus Basin have jumped to 90 percent in 2014, noted the release.
Read the entire release here.
