Doesn’t fracking use a lot of fresh water?

A:

Yes. While industry and even the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality had been claiming that each horizontal frack well uses about 5 million gallons of water, we now know from recent reports from the industry itself that Michigan's frack wells are using way more than that--as much as 16 to 21 million gallons per frack. One well pad used 42 million gallons. See: "Michigan's 21-Gallon Frack Job: A National Record?" at www.banmichiganfracking.org.

The DEQ has now posted a list of how much water has been used in "high volume" horizontal frack wells:

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/HVHF_and_water_480742_7.pdf