'Forever chemicals' found in Pecos River - What does that mean for your health?

Coley Burgess who oversees a local water district in the Carlsbad area said water managers in the region are working to protect the farmers they serve from potential contamination from industrial chemicals as oil and gas booms.

Burgess is the manager of the Carlsbad Irrigation District that pumps water from its reservoirs, including at Brantley Lake about a 15-minute drive north from Carlsbad, to water crops throughout the region.

The district uses a series of open-air canals to deliver its water and Burgess said he was researching possible risks from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) leaching into the canals from oilfield wastewater discharged onto the ground.

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PFAS are known to originate from several industrial processes, including manufacturing and recently firefighting foam at Air Force bases in New Mexico. Contamination from Cannon Air Force Base in Curry County was known to have impacted dairies nearby, contaminating ground water and thus cattle at the farms.

PFAS were also recently tied to oil and gas byproduct fluids like produced water, brought to the surface with crude oil and natural gas from underground shale. Produced water is often pumped back underground for disposal or treated and reused for subsequent drilling operations. Either way, produced water is constantly moved throughout the oilfields of the Permian Basin, either by truck or pipeline, to disposal or treatment facilities.

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Burgess said he’s witnessed and heard of truck drivers carrying produced water who open their tank’s valve and dump it along roadways to save time, a practice that risks groundwater supplies the CID relies on. He also voiced concerns for pipeline leaks, with many stretching under the ground beneath the district’s canal system.

“There’ absolutely some concern, and for all the other chemicals in produced water,” Burgess said. “We see people that will walk to the back of their truck, turn on their valve and just release that water while they’re driving. Trying to catch them in the act is the hard part.”

Solutions to the risk could mean closing off the canal system and delivering the water via its own underground pipeline to prevent surface contamination. But Burgess said that could cost “tens of millions of dollars” and likely not an option for the rural water district.

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Instead, he said there should be stronger penalties at the state level for unauthorized releases of produced water as oil drilling booms in southeast New Mexico, producing up to 10 barrels of produced water per barrel of oil.

“The only real solution is legislation that could increase penalties for people that are dumping it,” Burgess said. “I would think the absolute stiffest penalties possible. If that in the ground water or irrigation water getting put out on crops, that’s a concern. Especially with all the oil and gas and pipelines going on.”

Federal research shows PFAS contamination in Pecos River, throughout New Mexico

PFAS contamination was found in all major New Mexico rivers, including the Pecos River in the southeast region of the state where the CID irrigates from, according to a study by the U.S. Geological Survey released April 10.

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The statewide study sampled 117 groundwater wells and 18 surface water units throughout the state from August 2020 to October 2021, finding the highest PFAS concentrations near populous urban areas like Albuquerque but noting the contamination’s presence even in rural areas like Carlsbad.

Contamination was detected at concentration ranging from 1 to 155.4 nanograms of PFAS at 27 groundwater sites, although no area exceeded federal standards.

Much of New Mexico’s PFAS concentrations come via the Rio Grande, which flows through Albuquerque, the study read, potentially picking up the chemicals from the urban area and distributing it around the state via tributaries like the Pecos.

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A follow up study conducted by the USGS found PFAS concentrations in the Rio Grande were 10 times higher in areas downstream of the city, compared to samples take upstream before flowing through the populated areas.

"Our study highlights the complex nature of chemicals associated with urban areas and their impact on river systems," said Kimberly Beisner USGS hydrologist and lead author of both studies. "The data show that urban areas can be a major contributor of PFAS to rivers, with constantly changing concentrations due to wastewater discharge, stormwater runoff and other sources."

Three sample areas were used along the Pecos, one near Puerto de Luna just south of Santa Rosa in northeast New Mexico along the headwaters, near Artesia about 30 miles north of Carlsbad and the furthest downstream site at Red Bluff near New Mexico’s southeast border with Texas.

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As sampling moved south along the Pecos, or downstream of the more populated areas of New Mexico, PFAS concentrations rose, read the study. The study noted oil and gas extraction as a key source of PFAS contamination, along with textile production and electroplating used to coat items in metal.

Puerto de Luna had the fewest PFAS detections, the study read, with only one of seven samplings showing detectable levels at 2.8 nanograms per liter (ng/l), the report read, but worsening to up to 24.9 ng/l at the Artesia and Red Bluff sites.

“The second longest river sampled was the Pecos River, and samples collected there showed a similar progressive increase in PFAS downstream as observed in the Rio Grande samples,” the study read.

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The data could help the New Mexico Environment Department better oversee industrial activities in the state, said Andy Jochems, NMED source water protection team lead.

"The comprehensive survey of New Mexico's major rivers and evaluation of groundwater quality across the state is critical in helping NMED protect these valuable resources,” he said in a statement. "The science provided by the USGS helps us make informed decisions about our drinking water resources into the future."

New Mexico, feds look to clean up water contamination

The NMED and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recently petition the Environmental Protection Agency to list PFAS as federally hazardous materials, which the EPA did while also giving states more authority to research such contamination and fund cleanup.

More: Oil and gas companies seek solutions to wastewater, drought in New Mexico, Permian Basin

At the federal level, the EPA recently enacted tougher drinking water standards nationwide, aiming to curb the growing problem of PFAS contamination in the U.S.

Through its National Primary Drinking Water Regulation for six PFAS chemicals, the EPA awarded New Mexico about $9.5 million to pay for testing and treatment of public water systems potentially contaminated.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan said PFAS were a widespread problem throughout the U.S. and the federal government sought to work with states like New Mexico clean up the contamination.

More: New Mexico to investigate PFAS 'forever chemicals' in oil and gas drilling after petition

“Drinking water contaminated with PFAS has plagued communities across this country for too long,” Regan said. “That is why President (Joe) Biden has made tackling PFAS a top priority, investing historic resources to address these harmful chemicals and protect communities nationwide.”

Water contamination threatens New Mexico’s already strained supplies

In rural Carlsbad, Burgess, the manager of the local irrigation district said the danger of toxic chemicals in local water supplies came at a bad time.

The CID is already grappling with a statewide drought impacting the southeast corner of New Mexico more than any other part of the state.

About 96 percent of the state was suffering some level of drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s latest report for April 9. About 3.5 percent of that was in the worst drought class “exceptional drought,” in Eddy County alone. About 73 percent of the county was in the highest category, compared with zero percent a year ago, records show.

Exceptional drought can mean heightened wildfire dangers, no surface left for agriculture and rivers running dry.

Burgess said it means farmers in the area must fallow large swaths of their crop, opting to irrigate a smaller portion than planned, and losing income on the season.

“It’s better to have good irrigation on some of your land, than bad irrigation on all of your land,” he said. “It’s going to get harder and harder.”

He said he was slightly optimistic that summer and fall could bring monsoon rains to quench the arid region, giving it a 50-50 chance. The CID is currently providing its members a 1.5 acre feet (AF) allotment, less than half of what is considered a full allotment at 3.5 AF.

An acre foot is the amount of water it takes to cover an acre of land in feet, provided to farmers based on the area of their irrigated land.

“We’ve had more years than not that we’ve seen a good summer or fall rain to put water into the reservoir,” Burgess aid. “It has happened where we got little or no monsoon rain.”

And what precious little water local farmers do get should be free of contaminants like PFAS, Burgess said, through better oversight of the industries to blame.

“Open canal systems are an easy scapegoat,” Burgess said. “That needs to go to the correct source of PFAS. We just deliver water and if there’s contamination in there it’s from another source. That source should be held accountable.”

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: PFAS found in Pecos River water used for crops in southeast New Mexico