Lately, there has been a lot of talk about “fracking,” but what the frack is it?

To start, the term refers to an oil drilling process that uses hydraulic fracturing. It consists of  breaking through rock by using high pressured fluids.

Fracking requires up to 13 million gallons of water each time it’s used, and that’s putting a strain on places like Texas, where water is already in limited supply.

The water crisis in Texas, the biggest oil- and gas-producing state in the United States, highlights a continuing debate in North America and Europe over fracking’s impact on water supplies.

Fracking’s need for water isn’t the only aspect causing concern.

Environmentalists argue the process is putting water supplies in danger of serious pollution.

Now, reports of contaminated water and alleged disposal of carcinogens in rivers have caught state and federal regulators, and even environmental watchdogs, off guard. Sometimes the fracking mix includes diesel fuel. Between 2005 and 2009, drillers injected 32 million gallons of fluids containing diesel into wells in 19 states, an investigation by Representative Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) concludes.

As the process becomes more and more popular, there is sure to be a lot of fracking talk to come!