My original story on Fracking Fluids generated more direct email and comments than any other article I’ve written – this issue clearly strikes a nerve with a lot of people.

And the issue is: How do we know if fracking fluids – the use of which has skyrocketed in the last few years around North America with all the new shale oil and gas plays - are contaminating drinking water?

I see two parts to this issue – full disclosure of fluid ingredients, and how these fluids could migrate up through hundreds of metres to groundwater level.

I asked a contact of mine at a fracking company – who wanted to keep his job and stay anonymous –  to outline the fracking issue in easy to understand terms, and why isn’t the industry doing more to allay public concerns.   He says:

“The secret everyone is trying to hide is how non complicated these secret recipes are, yes much like my tea biscuits you can have one but I am not telling what is in them. It is a competitive edge to have unique fluids in a very competitive market.”

His light tone is not to diminish the issue; he says the industry does use “nasty” chemicals.  But I asked him to tell me what is in fracking fluids in layman language.  Here’s his story:

“I have a demo I do for new employees, investors, kids parties and sundry others where I make a frac gel using household items MacGyver style.  I am literally using items my wife buys regularly and can in a few moments generate a stable frac gel that the kids can hold and play with.

“Many of the frac systems are like cookies; each baker has a special recipe which they add their own flair to the batch but for the most part use the exact same ingredients as ever other baker. It is this flair that makes one cookie better than the other, and that is why the recipes are kept secret.

“Home owners use commonly use toxic chemicals, Lysol and bleach, to clean and disinfect cooking and eating surfaces.  Similarly frac companies use biocides to kill bacteria in the frac water that goes underground, much like having chlorine in your tap water.

“Misunderstanding and anxiety prevail when the balance of understanding of why the chemical is used is tipped.

“To make a home made frac gel you get:

“1 liter of warm water (20-30 C),

“6 grams ~ 1 tsp Guar Gum (buy at health food stores),

“Using a sifter/sieve, and sprinkle guar powder into warm water and mix for 2-5 min,

“And the water will turn slightly green and become thick and slippery,

“This is now a base gel or linear gelled water.

“Take 5 grams or 1 tsp of Borax (20 Mule works, most Grocery stores cleaning isle),

“Add borax into a ¼ cup of warm water, stir for ~30 sec

“With a clean spoon, dribble the borax water into the base gel, mixing vigorously,

“Quite quickly you will notice the base fluid thickens up and becomes Jello like, keep mixing and dribbling 2-4 tsp of borax water into base gel till this occurs.

“Let this sit for a few moments and voila you have a frac gel.

“Missing from this mixture is proppant (sand) which you can steal from your kids sand box (add to base gel prior to adding the borax solution) and a breaker, something that turns the gel back into water.

“You can break the gel by adding Lemon Juice and the gel will turn back into a liquid.  It’s more fun when the sand is added.

“Because the guar gum is a starch (similar to wheat flour), copious amounts of spit (spit has enzymes in it) will further break down the starches (not recommended, just too gross) over a matter of hrs to days.

“Variations to this are common and all depend on what is needed to successfully stimulate the reservoir. Things like water source, working temperatures, duration of treatment etc all have an effect on what is used to generate a frac fluid.

“When you start using fluids other than water the chemistry changes and you do use trace amounts of some nasty chemicals. This is not the majority of work performed but again it is necessary to use these to unlock many of the (tight, or shale) reservoirs being chased today. Usually these fluids are being pumped into formations at considerable depth, thousands of feet below water aquifers.

“But for less than 20 bucks you can whip this recipe together and cover frac gels for ~70+% of all work done in fracturing.”

Thanks to “MacGyver” for speaking with me.  But all his talk was “not for attribution”.  What are the official people in the industry saying and doing to educate not only investors but the general public about fracking fluids?  The fracking industry has grown hugely in the last few years, and like a teenager with bad acne, has its first real image problem.  How are they dealing with it?

I’ll speak to that in Part III late next week.

Related posts:

1. Fracking Fluids Part I: A Controversy Coming to an Energy Investment Near You
2. Industry Insider Explains “Green” Fracking Technology
3. Great story on fracing and its impact on natural gas
4. What’s a Frac – or WAF?
5. The “Secret” – and More Profitable – Sector of Natural Gas Stocks: Why NOW Is The Time to Buy Them