Prof. Avner Vengosh from Duke University delivered on Mar. 4 a speech themed "Overview of the risks to water resources from hydraulic fracturing". Prof. Vengosh discussed recent changes in the global water-energy nexus due to water use for natural gas, sources of flowback and produced waters generated from unconventional gas and oil wells, and implications stemming from the release of certain substances dissolved in them, to the environment.  

Prof. Vengosh specialises in geochemistry, hydrochemistry and water quality. His research aims to link environmental geochemistry and isotope hydrology in order to trace the sources and mechanisms of water contamination and relationships with human health.

He shared his finding on the water use and water contamination from hydraulic fracturing in different countries. "Data of shale gas production and its water footprint from the Weiyuan gas field, one of the major gas fields in the Sichuan Basin, show that the amount of water used for hydraulic fracturing (34,000 m³ per well) and the volume of flowback and produced (FP) water in the first 12 months (19,800 m³ per well) in the Sichuan Basin are similar to the current water footprints of hydraulic fracturing in U.S. basins," Prof. Vengosh said.

Prof. Vengosh pointed out that much attention has been given to man-made chemicals in hydraulic fracturing and their risks to human health and the environment. He called on the public to focus on the occurring contaminants derived from the formation waters that are co-extracted with shale gas and oil. These pose high risks to the aquatic life and human health in the case these are released to the environment.

After his speech, Prof. Vengosh had a fruitful interaction with the audience along which he encouraged the youth to participate in scientific research.

Text by He Hanglin

Photos by Zhang Hongrui, Lin Qia

Edited by GTIIT News & Public Affairs