One of the key issues that has stifled the development of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is water use. Each well can require between two and five million gallons of fresh water.

Once the water is used, it can be expensive and difficult to properly treat the water for release back into reservoirs, lakes or rivers. It’s often cheaper to simply pump the water underground, a process that’s been linked to a series of earthquakes in the Youngstown area.

Things may be changing, however.

According to TechnologyReview.com, General Electric has demonstrated an energy-efficient technology that could cut the cost of water treatment in half.

» Via: MIT Technology Review › One Way to Solve Fracking’s Dirty Problem