Don Foster has declared his moderate concerns about fracking (Chronicle, August 8). We in the Green Party oppose fracking for many reasons.
The unique hot springs in Bath are protected by Parliament (County of Avon Act 1982) and are estimated to attract over £300 million annually to the city. The water reaches the surface from 2.5km down through Jurassic and Triassic rocks to the limestone and consists of rain that fell several thousand years ago.
The danger of water pollution from the fracking process comes when the geology of the underlying rock is not understood or ignored. The geology data shows the underground around Bath is one of the most tectonically disturbed strata in Britain. The 1km thick limestone through which the water seeps down crops out intermittently around the edge of the Avon Basin.
Given the extent of the known faulting and associated fracturing in this basin, there is no reason why rain falling on any limestone outcrop of the Bristol area could not contribute to the springs. Wilcock and Lowe (1999) have suggested the catchment area includes the limestone outcrops west of the Severn in Chepstow and the Forest of Dean. Our council should be working with councils like the Forest of Dean, Mendip, South Gloucester and Bristol.
Fracking in Keynsham may enter one of the porous layers and inject chemicals that take only decades to arrive in the baths rather than thousands of years. Fracking anywhere in the 20 square kilometres of the Avon Basin is risky.
Nicholas Hales on behalf of the Bath Green Party Uphill Drive Bath