Water Scarcity Could Limit Shale Resource Development: WRI

Limited availability of freshwater could become a stumbling block to the growing shale gas sector, according to a new report from the Washington, DC-based World Resource Institute (WRI).The report, “Global Shale Gas Development: Water Availability and Business Risks,” examined how the availability of freshwater resources might limit plans to expand shale gas development in regions throughout the world.It did not examine what risks shale gas extraction might pose to water quality, nor did it evaluate the water management performance of the oil and gas industry.By combining indicators from WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, which shows where and how severe water scarcity is in the world, with the locations of global shale gas deposits based on maps from West Virginia University and the National Energy Technology Laboratory, WRI was able to identify the areas most in need of government oversight to properly manage freshwater availability in shale resources development and to inform companies of potential risks associated with water availability...