"Limited availability of freshwater could become a stumbling block for rapid development of shale resources through hydraulic fracturing. Using information from the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, WRI provides the first global and country-specific resource to help stakeholders evaluate freshwater availability across shale plays worldwide. Innovation in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques is driving the rapid development of shale resources (which include shale gas, natural gas liquids, and tight oil) across the United States and Canada. Already, known shale deposits worldwide have significantly increased the volume of the world's natural gas and oil resources. Governments from Argentina and the United Kingdom, to Mexico and China, have started to explore the commercial viability of their shale reserves. The potential for expansion is huge: known shale gas deposits worldwide add 47 percent to the global technically recoverable natural gas resources, and underground stores of tight oil add 11 percent to the world's technically recoverable oil. But as countries escalate their shale exploration, limited availability of freshwater could become a stumbling block. Extracting shale resources requires large amounts of water for drilling and hydraulic fracturing. In most cases, these demands are met by freshwater, making companies developing shale significant users and managers of water at local and regional levels, often in competition with farms, households, and other industries. Although experts agree that critical environmental risks and impacts are associated with developing shale, the risks and impacts specific to surface and groundwater availability have been thinly documented. With Global Shale Gas Development: Water Availability and Business Risks, the World Resources Institute (WRI) fills this gap, providing the first publicly available, global and country-specific analysis to help evaluate freshwater availability across shale resources worldwide."

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