Water prices a fracking big deal

The current going price for water used for fracking is 'an insult,' said Eoin Madden, a campaigner from the Vancouver-based national conservation group Wilderness Committee.

Critics are raising alarms that oil and gas companies are getting a “free ride” from the provincial government for the billions of litres of water used in fracking operations every year.

Last week, the B.C. government released a proposal for the new Water Sustainability Act, which would update and replace B.C.’s century-old Water Act. Experts have said the proposal is a welcome, if long overdue, sign the government is taking water resources more seriously — but they say the gifting of free or very cheap fresh water to industrial users is an issue that requires attention...more