The Potential Impacts Of Extracting Shale Gas On Water Resources In Algeria

Abstract

As Algeria is one of the promising countries in the world in the arena of the size of shale gas resources, the concerns about its potential impacts on the environment triggered a hot debate between the government and the opponents of the development of shale gas. The present paper attempts to determine the potential impacts of extracting shale gas on water resources. To do so, the authors discussed the main concerns expressed by the environmental associations especially the impacts of hydraulic fracturing on water resources trough quantifying the quantities of water that would be used by Sonatrach to drill wells and frack them hydraulicly on the one hand, and as a second step, discuss the major source of concerns and controversy of potential impacts on water quality on the other hand. The main finding of this paper is that extracting shale gas entails only a small fraction of the water resources and will not affect the quality of groundwater if the extraction technique is properly handled