Hydraulic fracturing (a "frac" or "fracing") is a technique used to allow oil and natural gas to move more freely from the rock pores where they are trapped to a producing well that can bring them to the surface. The technology was developed in the late 1940s and has been continuously improved and applied since that time. Fracing is a process that breaks apart the reservoir, effectively increasing the permeability of the reservoir. It is accomplished by pumping water under high pressure into the reservoir, sufficient to break apart the rock. The cost of hydraulic fracturing typically increases rapidly with the distance penetrated within the reservoir. An advantage of fracing is that it can be easily applied to an existing well bore.

Since the formations that are “frac’d” are typically thousands of feet deeper than any freshwater bearing formation and such freshwater formations are protected by both steel casing and cement, there is minimal risk of any damage to the freshwater formations.  Hydraulic fracturing is closely regulated by state agencies.