Previously, the usual bidders at Colorado's premier auction for unallocated water, hosted by the Northern Water Conservancy District, were Coloradan farmers bidding on water supplies needed to produce crops or plant more acres. This year, they're competing with oil and gas industry giants seeking water for drilling and fracking.
Farming and environmental advocacy groups raise legitimate concerns about the lasting negative impacts of fracking.
Gary Wockner, director of the Save the Poudre Coalition, noted that “water first used for agriculture can stay in the hydrological longer, but water contaminated by fracking is generally removed completely [and that] any transfer of water from rivers and farms to drilling and fracking will negatively impact Colorado's environment and wildlife.”
The process of fracking involves injecting a highly toxic chemical mixture of compressed gases containing radioactive minerals thousands of feet underground, forcing the extraction of petroleum and natural gases. And as Wockner alluded to, this procedure permanently contaminates the aquifer, eliminating the ability to obtain drinkable water from the aquifers in that region.
While hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and other drilling advancements have unlocked vast supplies of domestic natural gas, fracking operations pose a significant threat to Colorado's wildlife, agricultural industry, and public health.
That's all for now,
Stephanie
