Special Investigation Cameos of the Karoo: A journey into the heartland

Special Investigation Cameos of the Karoo: A journey into the heartland by Geraldine Bennett, March 22, 2011, moneyweb
“If they poison our water with chemicals, or they use it all up, our big plans are going to fail”. … Asked whether he believed that Shell would offer jobs to the local community, both Bruce and Olifant in unison said that this would not be the case. “We’ve heard this line before!” … Besides the possibility of water depletion in this already arid area, lucerne cannot be cultivated if there is excessive acidity or salts in the water source. Hydraulic fracking is notably water intensive and the fracking mix contains chemicals, which if spilled would contribute to rising acidity in the fragile and complex aquifer system. Equally, excessive salts will have an adverse effect on crop production, and in this respect, the option mooted by Shell of using “seawater in the fracking mix” should also be avoided. … A Soekor investigation in 1967, undertaken by Port Elizabeth drilling consultant and ex-Soekor employee, Andre Els, revealed evidence that a drilling fluid spill can, and did, emerge almost 40 km’s from the drill site in just 30 days.