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Garbage Collection Treatment and DisposalEffect Of Sewage Farming On Ground Water And Soil Quality - A Case StudyCharacterization And Solidification Of Electroplating Sludge Construction MaterialsFeasibility Study on Reuse of Electroplating Effluent in Construction MaterialsRemoval of O-CresolDecontamination of Pesticides Using Supercritical Carbon DioxideDeveloping a Decentralized Solid Waste Management SystemProduction of BiocidesRain Water HarvestingFeasibility Study on Banana Plant Extract as a CoagulantProduction of Biocide from the Flowers of ChrysanthemumStatus of Existing Solid Waste ManagementLeaching Studies of Pollutants in Agricultural Sub-Soil EnvironmentRemoval of Nitrate from Ground WaterProposed Biogas Generation from Food WasteElectrochemical Coagulation Technology for Treatment of Hospital WastewaterEffect of Domestic Wastewater on Soil Properties around Treatment Plant

It will be many years before China has significant production of shale gas or oil from hydraulic fracturing (fracking). As of June 2014, China has drilled fewer than 100 wells compared with tens-of-thousands in the US. Although China has some of the largest shale reserves in the world and the government has set some very aggressive development targets, difficult geology along with other factors has made the industry cautious regarding China’s likely pace of shale gas development.The epicenter of China’s fracking industry is in the Sichuan basin. Geologically, it’s similar to North Dakota’s Bakkan formation, one of the leading areas for fracking in the US. I’m not aware of any public studies of how hydraulic fracturing will affect water quality in China, but the experience of North Dakota may be a good example of what China will face in the years ahead.For Sichuan, the biggest threats are going to be accidental spills and poor well construction. It would seem that the only way China's lax environmental enforcement would really benefit the industry would be in any post-accident cleanup efforts, and not the actual fracking process itself.Even without the development of the fracking industry, water pollution is already serious problem in China. According to one recent report in the People’s Daily (Link: China's river pollution 'a threat to people's lives'), “up to 40 percent of China’s rivers were seriously polluted” and “20 percent were so polluted their water quality was rated too toxic even to come into contact with.”Fracking in China:The International Energy Agency (IEA) believes that China has the largestshale gas reserves in the world and the third largest reserves of shale oil.Estimates for technically recoverable gas reserves are in the range of 1,115 trillion cubic feet, or roughly equal to the US and Canada combined. In 2012, China’s National Energy Administration set an aggressive shale gas output target of 7.7 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) by 2020, (FYI: current US shale gas production is 25-30 billion cfd), but this was slashed by half in mid 2014 after early exploration efforts proved challenging.Areas for DevelopmentChina has shale gas and shale oil potential in seven prospective basins. Half of the technically recoverable resources lie in the Sichuan basin. The region has plenty of water, an existing pipeline network, and well-developed gas markets. Geologically, it’s similar to North Dakota’s Bakkan formation - both formations were all deposited on the floor of ancient seas. The formations are thermally mature or over-mature, which means the hydrocarbons have been cooked beyond the oil stage and are now likely to yield mostly gas and condensates.Despite these similarities, the geology is much more complex than North Dakota’s Bakken or Texas’s Eagle Ford and Permian. The basin is heavily faulted and seismically active in places (the Sichuan earthquake in 2008 killed almost 70,000 people and the 2013 earthquake killed nearly 200 people). Much of the basin has already been ruled out because it is too faulted, too mountainous, or contains too much deadly hydrogen sulfide gas (it is costly to remove and quite dangerous – in 2003 a sour gas well blew out in Luojiazai gas field, killing 233 people). Only the southwest corner is believed to meet the criteria for shale development.The formations are thousands of feet below the surface, and up to three miles in some places, which makes them hard to tap. A shale gas well in China can run $12 million to $15 million, or double the cost of a typical well in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale basin.PetroChina’s first horizontal shale well took 11 months to drill, compared to 2 weeks in North America, and production was disappointing. As of June 2014, China has drilled fewer than 100 wells compared with tens-of-thousands in the US. In 2012, China only extracted 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas, mostly from test wells in central China. In contrast, the US produced 24 trillion cubic feet.PetroChina engineers in the Sichuan Basin observed: “the Sichuan Basin’s considerable structural complexity, with extensive folding and faulting, appears to be a significant risk for shale development.” And a BP official recently noted: “It will be a long time before China could commercialize its shale resources in a large way.” (Source: US Energy Information Agency)Assuming significant geologic and operational issues can be solved, the Sichuan may become China’s premier shale gas basin, capable of providing several billion cfd of supply within 20 years.Another big prospect is the Tarim Basin in Xijiang, which could hold a third of China’s unconventional resources. Halliburton and STP have formed a joint venture to develop it, but they need to address the biggest challenge: water. Aquifers which underlie the lightly populated region could provide frac water. Halliburton has pumps that can fracture with less water, but ramp up will still be 5 to 10-years.It took almost 20 years to perfect the combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to develop North American deposits. Even with the advantage of being able to learn from successful producers, it will be some years in the future before significant commercial production appears in China.Environmental impact – Looking at the US and North Dakota:As far as I know, there haven’t been any public environmental impact studies on fracking in China. The best place to study would be the United States. The US leads the world in hydraulic fracturing, and many of the environmental concerns there focus on the potential for groundwater contamination, the amount of water used in the process, concerns about the safety of the chemicals used in the process, and even fears fracking could cause earthquakes.Concern about ground water contamination is focused primarily on areas where fracking has been developing shallow natural gas and oil rock formations. In North Dakota, our best comp for Sichuan, oil-bearing formations are deep underground, generally over 10,000 feet beneath the surface. There are approximately 8,000 feet (1.5 miles) of rock separating the oil extraction process from drinking water supplies. Deposits in Sichuan are generally even deeper than North Dakota.Source: http://www.swc.nd.gov/4dlink9/4dcgi/getcontentpdf/pb-2419/fact%20sheet.pdfIn September 2014, the Department of Energy released a study on fracking in Pennsylvania. After monitoring drilling sites during the fracking process and for 18 months afterward, researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used stayed about 5,000 feet below drinking water supplies, were unlikely to migrate upward through the rock, and found no evidence that fluids from the drilling process contaminated drinking water supplies. (Landmark Fracking Study Finds No Water Pollution)However, this just one study of six wells at one site. Other locations could show different results due to variations in geology or drilling practices. In addition, the major source of pollution isn’t chemicals migrating through rock; it’s faulty well construction.Most importantly, the study does not address the primary pollution concerns: surface spills of chemicals, wastewater damaged drinking water supplies, methane gas leaks, and the high use of water.In January 2015, almost 3 million gallons of fracking brine from a western North Dakota pipeline spilled into a creek that feeds the Missouri River, the largest spill of its kind in the state's history. Fracking brine is considered toxic; it is saltier than seawater and often contains other fracking fluids and petroleum. This spill eclipsed the previous record set last July when about 1 million gallons from a Crestwood Midstream Partners pipeline leaked into Lake Sakakawea. State officials are monitoring the cleanup and have given assurances that the leak does not threaten drinking water supplies.Link: Millions of gallons of saltwater leak into North Dakota creekThe New York Times reported in a November investigation that that 18.4 million gallons of oil and chemical substances have leaked into the North Dakotan air, water and soil between 2006 and October 2014.Link: Fracking brine leak in North Dakota reaches Missouri River, prompts state Democrats to call for more regulationRegarding water use, late last year the North Dakota State Water Commission released a report on fracking and water use. They found the industry accounted for about 4% of water consumption in the state, or 12,629 acre feet (4 billion gallons or 15.6 mln cubic meters). The average fracking process requires about 7 acre-feet of water (2.3 million gallons or 8,634 cubic meters). To put this in context, municipal water consumption was 22% of total use; the average North Dakotan uses about 0.1 acre feet of water/year; and one day of the average daily flow of the Missouri River at Bismarck is 45,480 acre-feet (ten trillion gallons/day).Even after all the documentaries and videos on YouTube of people holding lighters up against the stream of water coming out of the tap and watching as the trickle bursts into flame, it is still unclear how many people have been directly affected by fracking-related problems, as many people who may have been harmed have been silenced by the gas and oil industry under non-disclosure agreements. The NRDC has started cataloging cases where fracking is claimed to have caused contamination of drinking water:Link: Incidents where hydraulic fracturing is a suspected cause of drinking water contaminationThe Associated Press has also investigated the link between fracking and water contamination and found hundreds of complaints about well-water pollution in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Texas. Only a small percentage of the thousands of wells drilled throughout the country were found to be contaminated, and not all were necessarily connected to drilling — with so many potential sources of pollution, the exact cause can be difficult to determine.For example, ground water located above oil and gas fields can have very high natural levels methane and other contaminants caused by gas and oil seeping up toward the surface. Gas and oil seeping to the surface has been the fuel source for “eternal flames” which have been burning continuously for in some cases thousands of years around the world.Link: Page on listverse.comEven in the United States, the full environmental cost of fracking is still a subject of some debate. Both sides can point to research and studies to support their claims. Try reading an article from the NRDC followed by an article from “Energy In Depth” - a public outreach group launched by the Independent Petroleum Association of America - and you can see just how much both sides disagree about the science behind fracking, as well as the extent of research to back up their respective claims.Link: How Anti-Fracking Activists Deny Science: Water ContaminationFor Sichuan, the biggest threats are going to be accidental spills and poor well construction. It would seem the only way China's lax environmental enforcement would benefit the industry would be in cleanup efforts and not the actual fracking production itself.Environmental benefits for China from fracking?While can contribute to water pollution and water scarcity, it could have considerable benefits for air quality and CO2 emissions: developing shale gas will increase supplies of natural gas, reducing dependence on coal power, and helping to improve air quality. From 2007-2012, the United States cut carbon-dioxide emissions from generating energy by 450 mln tons, more than in any other country, due in large part to shifting away from dirty coal to cleaner natural gas. The importance of coal has tumbled since 1997, from almost half of electricity generation to just 37% by 2012. (Source: Economist Some fracking good news)China is the world’s largest consumer of coal. Today, coal provides not only 80% of China's electricity, but also the lion's share of its air pollutants, from soot to sulfur dioxide. Coal burning is the biggest contributor of air pollution in Beijing and surrounding area, according to a University of Leeds study sponsored by Greenpeace East Asia. Another study by Greenpeace estimates that in 2011 coal burning in China was responsible for 260,000 premature deaths; led to 320,000 children and 61,000 adults suffering from asthma; 36,000 babies being born with low weight; was responsible for 340,000 hospital visits; and 141 million days of sick leave. As a former resident of Beijing and a current resident of Shanghai, this issue is close to my heart.Link (UK's Guardian): China's coal emissions responsible for 'quarter of a million premature deaths'Fracking supporters believe natural gas is a cheap, effective way of weaning the world off of coal. Fracking opponents respond by saying the investment in fracking is simply undermining investment in renewable energy and delaying the eventual transition to clean renewable energy.In any event, it will be many years before China has significant production of shale gas or oil from hydraulic fracturing, assuming the industry ever gets off the ground.If you’re interested in learning more about shale oil and gas reserves around the world, the US EIA has a great report:http://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/worldshalegas/pdf/fullreport.pdf

I have lived in Delhi, NCR, Ranchi, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata. My feelings for City of Joy is unmatched. I feel, as an outsider, I deserve to list down some never seen things that I have witnessed in Kolkata during 6+ years of my stay.Never seen a city with so many transport options : All types of ricksaws, Shared Auto, Bus, Cabs, Water Ferry, Tram, Suburban Railways, Mainline railways with 4 major station/Junction, Metro.For rest of India, price of auto/bus for one stoppage is min Rs10, while in Kolkata price from one point of city to other extreme point is Rs 11/12. Metro at Rs 5/10, Ferry at 5, Autos at 15 or below, Tram at 5 or 10, Suburb train at around 10, AC bus 25, 35, 50.Never starved in Kolkata. Gained 20 kg weight in 6 months.Never felt security concern - especially when a female friend or partner was on road or in public transport.Never got any security threat from local in road commute or in society or in shops.Never felt short of assistants - as a bachelor, I had a cook, sweeper, bike cleaner, clothes and bathroom cleaner. I had emoloyed for 4 people and initial two were regular.Never felt sort of bars and restaurants even in salt lake.Never felt high price or seat shortage at movie theater.Never felt dirt or pollution in areas where I lived - New Town. However, some parts of Kolkata is not fit for habitation for outsider.Never felt short of local and cheap market in backyard. Every sector in saltlake has an organised market. It was also well organized in Newtown.Never felt silence in festivals - Vishwakarama Puja, Rath Yatra, Kali Puja, Eid, Durga Puja, Laxmi Puja, , Deewali, even Chhat Puja, Christmas, New year, Sraswati Puja (Bengali Valentine's day), endless events.Never found people comparing you due to your job status or salary. No one cares how much you make at the end of day.Never seen so Satisfied People. It's a drawback also.Never seen girls staring at you :-|. Yeah, many things are opposite in Kolkata. I found it's a mixed feeling when girl stares at you. They are not shy to express feelings because they feel secure.Never saw self volunteered Auto Queues. It's a small thing but not many cities in India have witnessed it. It's a case study in Kolkata. Discipline.I left the city because of one drawback - there are not many opportunities and at the end, what matters? Money.