Hearing begins on proposed produced water reuse rule
May 12—Should New Mexico clean up liquid wastewater that comes with oil and gas production and reuse it? The state's water pollution control agency is considering it this week in a hearing.
New Mexico is one of the top oil-producing states in the nation, but another product comes out of the ground in much greater amounts than fossil fuels. It's called produced water.
Produced water is an incidental byproduct of oil and gas production and can contain radioactive materials, oil residues and other chemicals and compounds. For every 42 gallons of oil produced, up to nearly 300 gallons of produced water can come out of the ground as well, according to the New Mexico Environment Department.
Produced water can only currently be treated and reused in the oil and gas industry, like via fracking or injections into disposal wells, but the state reports only about 10% of produced water in the state is reused.
So the New Mexico Environment Department has been working for a couple of years to craft a rule allowing for the reuse of produced water in sectors such as agriculture or hydrogen production.
The state's Water Quality Control Division has to first approve the proposed water reuse rule. The hearing starts Monday, and anyone can listen in at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe or online.
Environmental activists have spent the weeks before the hearing protesting the rule, worried there isn't enough science to safely treat produced water and reuse it.
Alejandría Lyons is the coordinator of New Mexico No False Solutions Coalition, which is made up of climate and environmental justice organizations. She said environmentalists agree there needs to be a rule for produced water, but the current proposal leaves too many unsafe loopholes for reuse in potable water or aquifer recharge.
"We need a rule on the books, but the way this is currently written, there are too many risks to our health and wellness," she said.
New Mexico Environment Department spokesperson Jorge Estrada said the rule "clearly prohibits the discharge of any produced water, treated or otherwise" while encouraging closed loop, non-discharging products. He said it's a way to address the megadrought New Mexico is facing.
"As the governor lays out in her 50 year water plan, with projections of 25% less water available in 50 years, we must develop new sources of water while we conserve and protect our freshwater resources," he said via email. "Water reuse is an essential piece of that puzzle and something we are already doing here in New Mexico."
Lyons said the No False Solutions coalition also doesn't want to see produced water used for green hydrogen production. Julia Bernal, executive director of Pueblo Action Alliance, agreed.
"We're also really against this pursuit of hydrogen energy production, and so we just see this as another part of that greater story," Bernal said. "So I don't personally feel like there's anything in the rule currently ... that would have any sort of positive impact to New Mexico."
She said the environmental and Indigenous advocacy groups that filed a lawsuit last year against the state's oil and gas production and pollution haven't been allowed to participate in rulemaking conversations around the matter.
"I do feel like our voice is definitely being ignored," Bernal said.
The proposed rule is the first of many that officials at the Environment Department say they want to pursue to guide the future of produced water reuse.
