The purpose of this guidance document is to identify and describe many of the current industry best practices used to minimize environmental and societal impacts associated with the acquisition, use, management, treatment, and disposal of water and other fluids associated with the process of hydraulic fracturing. While this document focuses primarily on issues associated with hydraulic fracturing pursued in deep shale gas development, it also describes the important distinctions related to hydraulic fracturing in other applications.

Moreover, this guidance document focuses on areas associated with the water used for purposes of hydraulic fracturing, and does not address other water management issues and considerations associated with oil and gas exploration, drilling, and production. These topics will be addressed in future API documents.