As a company Living-Water came out firmly against fracking several years ago, long before it became an issue in the UK on our own doorstep. The dangers to the water supply are well documented and already argued and there is no doubt that fracking can pose some dangers. However, as the procedure has become more utilized (particularly in America) our view is starting to change.
Does fracking cause earth tremors and more? Yes it would appear it does, but like everything they are so minor that they hardly represent a major risk. It’s a little like the scaremongering about the dangers of plastic bottles and human health (one would need to drink hundreds of bottles a day to just be exposed to the minimum level that could harm ones health. Taking into account all the advantages of drinking water, such scaremongering really is quite a nuisance, and fortunately most people see it for what it really is.
The economic benefits of fracking are pretty clear and America has become a pioneer of the process/industry. The UK would be naïve to turns its nose at such an opportunity to cut our reliance upon imported oil. Fracking does not as many would have us believe, destroy large areas of land and is relatively less invasive than other forms of mining.
So poor old Cuadrilla has come under an avalanche of negative publicity from the residents of Balcombe who don’t want a fracking site in their own backyard.
I think that fracking, like nuclear energy years before, needs to be placed in context. Many of those residents in Balcombe will also drive cars, heat their houses and in some lucky cases swimming pools, but this insatiable appetite for energy will need to be met in some shape or form. It seems to me that the risks posed by fracking need to be measured against the measurable benefits which present a strong case. As in the same way, nuclear power is a necessary evil and not without its own risks.
Should Living-Water be quickly setting up a regional office in Balcombe as the water supply will get polluted, as anti-fracking protesters would have us believe??? I don’t think we will retire on this one some how. The risks to the water supply have been massively exaggerated and I hand on heart cannot see a scenario where all the people of Balcombe would end up drinking from out bottled water coolers – a lovely thought, but that’s all it is.
Rent water coolers or buy water dispensers online from Living-Water in London.
