Town of Fox Creek Water Ban on ALL Non-Essential Use. Does that include fracking in AER’s Deregulated, Blanket Approval, Frac Frenzy, Play-Based Pilot Project surrounding Fox Creek?

Water Ban Information by Town of Fox Creek, May 27, 2015, Fox in Focus

2015 05 27 Water Ban in Town of Fox Creek, in AER's deregulated, blanket approval, frac frenzy, pilot project

Water Ban Information:

Background: During the spring of 2015 the Town of Fox Creek has some serious concerns with water colour issues. Public Works staff worked to alleviate this issue, by flushing the water mains through fire hydrants. While hydrant flushing is a normal maintenance procedure for line cleaning and valve exercising, the excessive volume of water used to obtain clear water quickly depleted the Town’s treated potable water supply. [If industry had not demanded deregulated blanket frac approval for a massive pilot project area around Fox Creek and if the AER had not granted it, would the water supply and local aquifer have depleted so fast?]

Water was purchased from a neighbouring community and delivered to Fox Creek at great expense to re-supply the reservoir. After this event the Town was able to produce water and the reliance on trucked water was not an issue.

Current Status: Recently it was noted by Town staff that the water pumped from the wells in the local aquifer to the Water Treatment Plant had slowed down significantly. The causes of this situation are many, covering a spectrum from the design of the wells, the extended lifetime that they have been in use, the lifecycle of the aquifer, the huge shadow population that the Town has serviced, and the age of the existing infrastructure. [Why is the massive water loss caused by the massive pilot frac project around Fox Creek not included?]

The town is seeking Regulatory allowance to place the pumps deeper into the wells, thereby increasing the flow rate of water we can obtain. [Will that do any good, if industry is sucking the ground and surface water dry and if it does, how long will the improvement last? Is anyone studying the adverse cumulative harm fracing in Alberta is causing to fresh drinking water supplies, above and below ground?]

Potable water is being purchased from another community and trucked into Fox creek, at a great expense.

All required drinking water sampling has been completed and continuous monitoring is taking place.

[Have all companies fracing in the Fox Creek Pilot Project area disclosed all and any chemicals injected, produced in flowback and all waste dumped on the surface, onto ground and into waterways?  If not (so far, it appears no company has in Alberta, not even Encana and it is legally required to in document exchange for the Ernst vs Encana lawsuit), how can anyone know what to test the water supply for, and if frac chemicals have contaminated the local aquifer?] 

The water, although discoloured, is safe to drink. [Who says so?] It has passed all parameters of testing. [Who says so?] The colour of the water, while unappealing, is an aesthetic objective and is not a health concern. [The regulators told Rosebud citizens the water is safe to drink, bathe in and live with, even though Encana frac’d the community aquifers, repeatedly in multiple zones, and afterwards, the community water tower was destroyed in an explosion that seriously injuring a worker. Explosive levels of methane, other hydrocarbons and toxic red flag indicators of petroleum industry contamination were found by Alberta Environment in the drinking water supply. Are the regulators in Alberta trustworthy? ]

Conclusion: The Town asks that the community continues to reduce water consumption wherever possible. This will help keep cost to tax payers reasonable, as well as allowing the aquifer to recharge. [And the frackers? Do they reduce their water use or get to keep fracing and injecting however millions of gallons of fresh water they want, much of it to be lost permanently?]

On Monday the ban was marginally effective, allowing us a small recovery to our system. With the steps the Town has taken and a combined community effort I believe that this emergency situation will soon pass. [Time for everyone in the community to stop bathing and to stop drinking anything with water in it. See how that works for everyone, especially those staying in hotels with the town’s new 133,233 per cent business licence increase.]

Future Plans: The Town has drilled 8 new wells and will soon be bringing them on line. We are also installing a new water treatment plant. [How much will that cost the citizens? Are the jobs, millions in road damages, bad air, cancer risks and 4.4M earthquakes worth it? Who pays to move the community if the 8 new wells don’t provide the water needed, or the water is contaminated with undisclosed frac chemicals?] These improvements will allow for planned future growth, more efficient treatment and delivery of potable water, and less reliance on outside sources of safe clean water. [Has anyone estimated how many billions in economic devastation results if neighbouring communities are also frac’d and have no water to share?]

Respectfully,
John Greathead
Director of Operations
Town of Fox Creek

[Refer also to:

2005: Investigators say an accumulation of gases appears to have caused the explosion that destroyed the Rosebud water tower and sent a Wheatland County employee to hospital

2009: A Primer for Understanding Canadian Shale Gas – National Energy Board Briefing Note

Drilling and hydraulically fracturing wells can be water-intensive procedures; however, there is very limited Canadian experience from which to estimate potential environmental impacts.

2010: Encana frac’s a community’s drinking water supply, publicly promises $150,000 after water wells start to go bad, years later donates the money to Rosebud School of the Arts Theatre, successfully silences the community

2012: Laurie Blakeman questions Alberta Environment Minister Diana McQueen on Groundwater and Hydraulic Fracturing, McQueen responds “That’s a silly question” when asked about baseline water testing before fracing

2012: AEA: Support to the identification of potential risks for the environment and human health arising from hydrocarbons operations involving hydraulic fracturing in Europe

A proportion (25% to 100%) of the water used in hydraulic fracturing is not recovered, and consequently this water is lost permanently to re-use, which differs from some other water uses in which water can be recovered and processed for re-use.

2013: Wheatland County (Alberta) Councillors call for Fracking Halt until Protective Methods are Developed

2013: Just a Fracking Few and Rosebud, Not Our Problem, Alberta Environment Minister McQueen says no need for baseline water testing yet because “There have been very few wells” fracked

2014: Encana builds water treatment facility in Wyoming after taking over funding of EPA study that showed Encana’s frac’ing and waste pits contaminated drinking water in Wyoming AND IN THE YEAR IT WAS REPORTED THAT ENCANA FRAC’D INTO THE DRINKING WATER AQUIFERS THERE: 2014: what took so long for this to be reported? Oil companies fracking into drinking water sources, new research shows

2014: Beware the wealthy bearing gifts; Do oil and gas industry “donations” and “scholarships” buy endorsement, silence and obedience?

2014: Drinking or fracking? World Resources Institute report finds top shale plays globally are in places with scarce water

2014: WARNING! Synergy and blanket approval to give industry free-for all fracking in Alberta! Watch out Fox Creek and the rest of Canada, Synergy is brainwashing controlled by industry, incredibly evil and works well

2014 06 16 Figure 1 Map of Fox Creek Play Based and Synergy Pilot project area

The complete AER Play-Based Regulation Pilot Draft Application Guide

What if there is a fire in the Town of Fox Creek?

2015 05 26 fox creek fire ban, wildfire hazard extreme

This entry was posted in Global Frac News. Bookmark the permalink.