Bloomberg reports that Britain’s water companies plan to discount the cost of water to fracking companies. Southern Water says its rate for the biggest customers is 25% less than for homes and this would apply to shale drillers, though none have applied. United Utilities will also offer lower rates. South East Water received an application to supply Cuadrilla’s exploratory drilling in Balcombe. It says it will assess any requests for fracking individually. Bloomberg estimates the average amount of water to frack a well is 5 million gallons but the actual amount depends on the number of fractures and the length of the horizontal well. In America, between 15% and 80% of the water used to frack a well is recovered.