Literature Review - Potential Health And Environmental Effects - Assessment Answer

December 10, 2018
Author : Ashley Simons

Solution Code: 1AAAH

Question:Literature Review

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Literature Review Assignment

Assignment Task

Discuss the potential health and environmental effectsof hydraulicfraccing.

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Introduction

Hydraulic fracking is a method of extraction of oil and natural gas. It involves drilling processes deep down into the earth’s surface to reach deposits of shale gas and oil. Hydraulic fracking is specifically done in areas that have high gas and oil deposits existing in fractures that are interconnected in a way.The process applies a principle that releases water at high pressure on the rocks which harbor natural gas and oil (Rahm, 2011).The water is normally mixed with sand, several chemicals and water forming a mixture of reactants causing the rocks containing gas and oil to break open (Finkel & Law, 2011). The method is done because it is able to reach deeper for the gas and oil more than the conventional methods of mineral extractions (Burton et al., 2014). It releases water at high pressure on the rocks which harbor natural gas and oil.

The contaminants from the process have been associated with radioactive pollutants associated with cancers, disorders of the blood, toxic effects to living organisms, congenital disorders. In addition, air pollution by vapors and dust can lead to respiratory infections because of particulate matter, noise pollution from machines are associated with hearing disorders and headaches (Finkel & Law, 2011). The pollution of water by wastes lead to reduction in water supplies and increased incidence of water related diseases (Forghani-Arani et al., 2014).

The processes of fracking affect people working in the mining process and neighboring community to the mines (Finkel & Law, 2011). In addition, pollution effects have effects on the local environment and adjacent ecosystems like in the case of water pollution the wastes can be transported to neighboring regions (Burton et al., 2014). The most vulnerable groups of people affected by the fracking process are those that live next to fracking sites. Pregnant mothers also form the other group of people who are higly vulnerable to the effects of hydraulic fracking.

Health effects of Fracking

Toxic Components

Radioactive materials are produced as a result of the radioactivity which comes from the walls due to the presence of the naturally occurring maters as well as radioactive materials which are introduced into the oil and gas wells (Nelson et al., 2015). The flow back from wells is then disposed into class two wheels while in another case, the water from hydraulic fracking processes in sewage treatment plants. Since the radioactive materials cannot be properly treated in the sewage treatments, they find their way into river bodies (Stringfellow et al., 2014). The water treatment plants cannot fully purify the radioactive materials in the water from drilling firms. This has resultant health effects on public utility because radioactive materials are linked to numerous diseases including cancers, congenital deformities and blood disorders.

Increased presence of toxic materials on the soil as a result of increased use of chemicals in fracking whose composition is not disclosed has been presented (Peduzzi and Harding, 2013). As a result, the people cannot be able to protect themselves from such chemicals because they cannot know its compositions. Moreover, not even the scientists can be able to make a prediction of the probable problems that could arise from the introduction of fracking chemicals into the environment since they do not understand the nature of the chemicals the oil and gas drilling companies deal with (Willems, 2015). The toxic chemicals can get into the food chain through absorption by plants, hence resulting in animals and organisms, hence associate with biomagnifications and bioaccumulation of contaminants in body tissues.

Some of the health effects associated with the toxic chemical components of fracking include birth defects, miscarriages for pregnant women, infertility, and impaired fetal growth. Other health defects include delayed sexual developments, preterm birth, and low birth weight among other health issues.

Emission of radioactive isotopes

It is a common occurrence for the radioactive tracer materials to be released along with the fluids used in the hydraulic fracturing process. This occurs in an effort to determine the profile of injection and the places where the resulting fractures are located. The sand which harbors the tracer isotopes, which release gamma materials are applied in trading as well as a measurement of the fractures (Nelson et al., 2015). Moreover, hydraulic fracturing sometimes causes some micro seismic activities which can be too small that they cannot be detected apart from using very sensitive instruments. Although these micro seismic forces are used to map the horizontal as well as the vertical extent of the fossil fuel fracturing. These microseism amiss activities can cause low levels of earthquakes as a result of the amplified addition of wastewater and natural gas in the wells used for discarding purposes. The earthquakes which are as a result of the injection of fracking wastewater from the ground are referred to as the induced seismic events (Finkel and Law, 2011). However, these types of earthquakes are small in magnitude and hence are not a threat to future methods of exploiting the fossil energy.

Heavy metal release

At the moment, there has been an increased global apprehension with regards to the negative health effects attributed to the widespread adoption of hydraulic fracturing activity by the drilling companies due to release of heavy metals (Willems, 2015). Contaminants resulting from hydraulic fracking can be been associated with poor health, affecting the development and reproductive health conditions. For instance the heavy metals like benzene and toluene are very dangerous when exposed to expectant mothers because they are able to cause miscarriages and stillbirths (Vincetiet al., 2016). Moreover, nervous system impairment, respiratory diseases. Cancers and the disorders of the blood are amongst the other complaints which can be linked to fracking exercise.

Environmental impacts

Water pollution

A common negative health and environmental effect associated withhydraulic fracking is the emergence of the issue of water pollution (Gregory et al., 2011). This method uses a lotofwater approximately one hundred more than the other methods of mineral extraction which involve drilling processes to mine oil and gas. Water which has been used in hydraulic fracking cannot be recycled for use and this results in a decrease in the water supplies, especially in regions where fracking takes place (Rozell and Reaven, 2012).Additionally, such water is highly contaminated with chemicals for mineral extraction because the water, which is used in fracking is able to seep through the soil and end up in other water reservoirs and bodies cause damage to the ecosystem. Such seepage of chemically contaminated water from ecosystem into the soil occurs despite the fact that much of such waste water is collected during drilling processes (Burton et al., 2014).

Noise pollution

This forms a potential hazard associated with hydraulic fracking because this method of drilling produces a loud noise which continues for a long period of time (Whitmarsh et al., 2015). The noise which is produced mostly affects the people who reside near the locations where the drilling of these minerals by fracking occurs. The noise comes from the heavy vehicles and heavy machines on the mining site and can continue for prolonged lengths of time and cause a huge impact on the peoples’ daily lives (Forghani-Arani et al., 2014).

Emergence of droughts

Increased usage ofwater as compared to the other drilling techniques has been linked to a likelihood of the emergence of more droughts, especially in the regions where this method is carried out. There have been concerns that as drought strikes most of these regions, the drilling firms are permitted to access more water for their activities which in real sense needs to be supplied to the people for domestic purposes as well as irrigation (Scanlon et al., 2014).

Air Pollution

One of the most common gases in the composition of natural gas is methane, which is about 25 times more intoxicating as compared to even the carbon dioxide (Siege, 2015). This potency is in relation to the trapping and storing warmth in the atmosphere. During the process of drilling, many more air contaminants are produced especially during the process of drilling, construction, transporting the materials and the equipment and the waste disposal (Weinhold, 2012). The crystalline silica, which is used for hydraulic fracking in the form of sand is capable of causing silicosis, which is an incurable. The leakage rate of methane occurs during the development of the wells in the fracturing process (Siege, 2015).

Methane released in the process is a component of the greenhouse gases (Howarth, 2015). Methane leakage into the atmosphere during the production process is proportional to the amount of gas the mineral well is likely to produce oil. This ultimate recovery becomes crucial since the single form of methane discharges that takes place in the process of completing the mineral wells are apportioned among the overall amount of gas or oil anticipated from the well production (Siegel et al., 2015).

Diseases associated with Fracking

Fracking is associated with acute and chronic diseases. According to Witter, 2010,some of the acute health complications experienced by people in areas close to fracking mining sites documented by Damascus Citizens for Sustainability include;

  • Continued fatigue
  • Burning and sensational eyes
  • Skin irritation and dermatological complications
  • Respiratory infections, dermatological complications, abdominal pains, Urologic and endocrine complications

The long term health effects reported by the organization include; greenhouse gas emission associated with climate change, asthma cases, cardiovascular disorders, and lung cancers (Witter, 2010).

Conclusions

Hydraulic fracking provides more hopes into the exploitation of more fossil fuels from the earth's crust. It is important that explorers disclose to the people the array of chemicals used so that the people can take precautionary measures.

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