The controversial oil and gas removal technique of hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, has left many communities and campaigners complaining of polluted water as a result of the process. Scientists from the US and France are now claiming they can determine whether the pollution caused to certain areas of drinking water are the result of fracking activities.
Scientists from the French Geological Survey, Dartmouth College, Stanford University are reporting the breakthrough in pollutant tracking in a number of scientific journals. The breakthrough comes as groups in Europe and North America are protesting against the widespread use of this controversial shale oil and gas extraction technique.
During the fracking process chemicals and water are pumped into wells stretching miles into the ground, once the supply of oil or gas is reached the fluids flow back to the surface and the precious fossil fuels are collected. The problem for many campaigners and environmental groups is that the fluids returning to the surface are often radioactive and can make their way into ground water supplies.
Large deposits of shale oil and gas also include elements of boron and lithium, which are identified in samples of polluted waters using the new technique. If these two materials are identified within the polluted waters the scientists claim the pollution can then be blamed on the fracking process. The secretive nature of fracking has previously made it difficult for pollution to be determined as coming from the fracking process.