"In dozens of water-scarce counties where fracking is booming, water use is at or approaching more than a billion gallons a year."

"Some of the nation's driest, drought-plagued places have quickly become its busiest hot spots of drilling for shale gas and oil, especially in Texas, Colorado and California.

It's a dust-bowl-sized problem likely to become worse, according to a study released Wednesday by the nonprofit sustainability advocacy group firm Ceres. Fracking, the controversial drilling technique, is consuming billions of gallons of water each year in states where water is increasingly scarce. The report warns that investors need to demand information about how energy companies are managing this problem or risk their investment portfolios being clobbered.

Put simply, Ceres is saying there probably isn't enough fracking water where fracking most wants to happen. And eventually, there will be a price to pay."

Bob Port reports for InsideClimate News February 5, 2014. [2]