Footage from Preston New Road taken after the heavy rain on the 29th of September reveals that water has been seeping out from various locations along a side of the fracking pad at Preston New Road in Lancashire.
If I was to be scientific about this situation I might say that without further investigation and some hard evidence is is difficult to say if the liquid is from under the pad, on the pad or a mix of both.
If I was to give my honest opinion on the situation then I would be inclined to say that the pad was undermined by water since it was placed in 2017 and since then has developed leaks…
I have been informed of a EPR Compliance Assessment Report (ID:UP3431VF/029117) by the EA in June 2017 relating to an electrical conduit which was releasing “silt contaminated water” from the well pad in June ’17. It is not entirely clear where this conduit is located however it shows that “silt contaminated water” has been able to escape from the site previously.
A ducting manhole was identified at a low point along the western boundary of the site. The manhole overflowed and spilled onto ground which spread across land. A quantity of the silt contaminated surface water saturated the ground and flowed overland into a field drain which then discharged to a tributary of Carr Bridge Brook. I understand that pooling water was detected by the operator as part of a daily site inspection, once the source had been identified the electrical conduit pathway was blocked.
EPR Compliance Assessment Report -ID:UP3431VF/029117
What is clear to me is that the bank of the pad has started to collapse with the heavy rain, and that the colour of the fluid in the fields is the same colour as the water on the pad. It is difficult to say what is in this sediment or if it comes from the land surrounding the pad, the well, the cellar, the artesian aquifer, or some other place. It does show that the same colour of fluid is on the pad as it is in the landscape, suggesting that there is a failure of the containment properties of the membrane. What is also clear is that the the company are claiming that there are no issues and they are planning to go ahead and flow test despite the concern around earthquakes and clear issues with the pad being undermined. This has all the ingredients for a disaster. You can see how much the side in question has degraded in the space of two weeks in the following two images;
Altering well pressure can change the stress on nearby faults. Given the 2.9 was induced on a fault close to the wells and that there have been aftershocks since I would think the best idea is to just walk away now. When you add the issues of water appearing on the pad and flowing from under it… Well lets just say a landslide becomes possible due to liquefaction with a big enough earthquake. If enough of the sediment deposits which make up the land at this location move at the same time it could even damage the upper portion of the well to the point it is compromised. Then they/we have a really big problem to deal with.
Where does this fluid go, and what is in it?
We witnessed a red sediment emanating from this same location in 2017 and over time red patches started appearing across the landscape, killing vegetation as they went. The sediment was not always in the surface water flow, but seemed to also be in locations where water from below the ground appeared at the surface. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFvX5GnyM3g
The flood maps show that the surface water goes into the brook and out to the Irish Sea. There is also a network of watercourses in the area that flow through the fields to the low points of the area by the motorway and along the main drain, which also happens to be a superficial fault line.
The following video is all from the the 29/9/19 showing the routes the fluid takes from the pad. It goes to the Main Drain through several paths other than the Carr Bridge Brook, these are likely ancient delta streams that have been present since the glacier retreated at the end of the last ice age, forming the landscape.
Cuadrilla claimed the risk of flooding was “insignificant”in their planning documents, it looks as though they didn’t plan for their permit properly to me.
Lion of WISE isles 