Fracking Fears Run Deep In The Karoo
Excellent Article on Fracking In South Africa

While most of the water remains in the shale, around 30-60% of the fluid returns to the surface once the well has been drilled and fracked. This flowback is laced with the injected chemicals and elements found naturally in the shale: concentrated salts; heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, barium and naturally occurring radioactive materials including uranium, radium and radon. In addition – because there’s always more to the fracking footprint – a triple whammy is formed in a chemical interaction between added chemicals and compounds found in the shale. As nasty to human health as it is complicated to pronounce, 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4-NQO) is one of the most potent carcinogens known to man and while it is not a chemical additive nor a shale resident, it has been discovered in shale flowback fluids.

Read Article Here