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1、Chapter4FossilFuelsandWaterQualityLucyAllen,MichaelJ.Cohen,DavidAbelson,andBartMillerFossilfuelsareessentialtotheglobaleconomy—forelectricityproduction,transporta-tion,plasticsandchemicalsmanufacturing,heating,andmanyotherpurposes.How-ever,theextracti
2、onandprocessingoffossilfuels,inadditiontotheiruse,haveprofoundimpactsontheenvironmentandnaturalresources,includingwater.Largeoilspills—suchastherecentDeepwaterHorizondrillingrigspill,whichleakedover4.9millionbarrels(780,000cubicmeters)ofcrudeoilintoth
3、eGulfofMexico—havefocusedatten-tiononthepotentialfordisastersassociatedwithoildrillingtocausecontaminationofthenaturalenvironment(Lubchencoetal.2010).Thegrowingrecognitionoftheseri-ousriskstosurface-waterandgroundwaterqualityfromnaturalgasfrackingoper
4、ationsalsoraisesnewquestions.Andevennormalfossil-fuelextractionandrefiningprocessespollutetheenvironment.Theconnectionsbetweenwaterandenergyhavebeenstudiedinrecentyears,withgrowingrecognitionofhowcloselythetwoarelinked.Waterisused,invaryingquanti-ties
5、andways,ineverystepoffossil-fuelextractionandprocessing(Ptaceketal.2004).Forexample,theamountofcoalproducedworldwidein2009requiredanestimated1.3to4.5billioncubicmeters(m3)ofwaterforextractionandprocessing.1Oilrefiningrequiresapproximately4to8millionm3
6、ofwaterdailyintheUnitedStatesalone(theamountofwaterthattwotothreemillionU.S.householdsusedaily)(USDOE2006).Butwhileinteresthasgrowninthevolumeofwaterrequiredforenergyproduction,thewater-qualityimpactshavebeengivenmuchlessattention.Becausewaterisusedin
7、somanywaysduringfossil-fuelextractionandprocessing(seeTable4.1),therearealsomanywaysinwhichitcanbecomecontaminatedwithawidevarietyofpollutants,fromsedimenttosyntheticchemicals.Additionally,nearbywaterbodiesandgroundwatermaybecomecontaminatedbysolidorl
8、iquidwastescre-atedbytheextractionprocess.MininganddrillingforfossilfuelsbringtothesurfacematerialslongburiedintheEarth,includingwater,andgeneratelargequantitiesofwastematerialsorby-products,creatinglarge-scalewastedisposalchallenges.Waterbrou
