Image: American Chemical Society

Hydraulic fracturing has been criticized for various issues, one of which is the amount of water used to complete the unconventional extraction method.

American Chemical Society reports that a recent study on the amount of water used by oil and gas producers shows how much water is used in each of the major U.S. shale plays. The researchers found that between 2005 and 2014, almost 250 billion gallons of water were used to frack wells. By comparison, the underground coal and uranium mining industry and the enhanced oil recovery industry uses 2.5 to 13 times more water per unit of energy produced than the fracking industry.

The researchers also noted that the amount of water used for fracking accounts for less than 1 percent of the annual industrial water use in the U.S.

The study, published in the American Chemical Society’s journal, Environmental Science & Technology Letters, can be accessed here.

Via: American Chemical Society > How much water do U.S. fracking operations really use?

Related: Utica and Marcellus horizontal wells among top water-users in nation July 2, 2015