Abandoning fracking due to fear water pollution for an energy starved country without thorough investigation is being naïve.
USA is a strong agricultural country as well. Annual production of wheat more than 50-million tons, but USA is the world leader in fracking. Even UK has strong farming base. In 2014 UK output was about 16-million tons of wheat & 7-millions of barley, however UK gov’t gave go ahead to fracking in July 2014 after lengthy public hearings.
The debate about fracking is nothing new. We must realize that every industry and activity including building Dams has its pro’s & con’s. The question is of estimating whether potential benefits are higher than the adverse effects. In my opinion the matter should be thoroughly debated in public forums but with real experts in the environment, agriculture & energy filed. Little knowledge is a dangerous thing and I don’t mean people who become self-claimed experts after reading a couple articles but those who have spent their lifetime in their respective discipline.
In most US agricultural areas, ground water is already severely polluted by the poultry, agricultural runoffs.
The following link provides an insight into Fracking for layman.
The environmental costs and benefits of fracking: The state of research - Journalist's Resource Journalist's Resource
Personally, I would go for it but in stages. That is, Pakistanis engineers need to gain operational experience and learnt to cope with the potential hazards by operating only one or two sites for a couple years before going full steam ahead.
