The fracturing process is under way at NE Campus’ southwest drilling site near Grapevine Highway and Harwood Road.

The newly constructed pipelines bordering the east side of campus connect the fracturing pond to the Chesapeake Energy drill site. The water is used to crack the shale below to extract the natural gas, said Brian Murnahan, Chesapeake Energy’s communications manager.

“The frac water is fresh water combined with sand,” Murnahan said.

When the used water is extracted from the well, trucks will come to haul it to a disposal site, he explained.

“The fracing process takes about five to six days per well,” he said.

After the fracturing process was completed last week, the aboveground water pipelines were deconstructed, he said.

Now, Chesapeake trucks will take the used water and dispose of it.

“The first day or two, there will be about 30 trucks and then the number will drop very quickly to about one or two trucks,” Murnahan said.

The trucks will come and go throughout the day, so Murnahan said he does not anticipate a large build-up of vehicles.

“We won’t impact traffic or roads,” he said.

Collected gas is moved underground.

“The gas obtained is held on site in the well until the gathering lines are attached,” he said. “Gathering lines pick up the gas at individual sites and take it to a compression station where it will be sold.”

NE Campus should expect to see the installation of the underground gathering lines toward the end of the spring semester or early in the summer, Murnahan said.

— Leah Bosworth