New Mexico Energy Secretary James Kenney joined Lt. Governor Howie Morales Thursday morning in welcoming industry, government and higher education officials, including leadership of New Mexico pueblos, to Las Cruces for a symposium on a proposed strategic water supply for industrial use that is part of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s 50-year water action plan.
New Mexico State University’s interim president, Mónica Torres, said the all-day symposium presented an opportunity to for research institutions to collaborate and communicate information to the public. “We hope that this will be the first of many collaborative events aimed at fostering the kind of conversations that build our knowledge base and move our research forward,” she said.
Morales pointed to the recent wildfires in Lincoln County as an example of climate-related challenges pressing on New Mexico, where there is long-term drought and tightening supplies of fresh water yet is also a leading domestic producer of oil and gas and home to mining industries.
“We are uniquely positioned to support innovation with water reuse to offset our reliance on freshwater uses,” he said in an address hailing the governor’s plan, including the controversial plan for the strategic water supply, to include both brackish and “produced water.”
The proposition, which includes a $500,000 appropriations request to lawmakers, has been criticized by environmental groups alleging the SWS constitutes a gift to industry – oil and gas, in particular. Some have also expressed concern that inequitable burdens on safe water supplies might be suffered by vulnerable communities.
Under a statute enacted in 2019, oil and gas companies are encouraged to recycle and reuse “produced water,” a byproduct of the drilling process which may contain fluids used in the extractive process, such as with hydraulic fracture (or “fracking”). The statute also established a Produced Water Research Consortium led by New Mexico State University under agreement with the state Environment Department, which regulates produced water for uses outside of oil fields.
At the time the law was passed, the Environment Department reported that just 10 percent of produced water generated in the state was recycled and reused by the oil and gas industry, while the amount of produced water generated from production amounted to as much as seven barrels per barrel of oil. Under NMED’s classification, produced water does not include water used in mining.
Brackish water, on the other hand, occurs naturally in underground aquifers or in some surface water, particularly where ocean water is introduced, and presents high salinity.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s strategic water supply proposal, announced last December, provides for the state to buy produced or brackish water, after treatment, for other industrial companies such as solar panel manufacturers – but not for other uses. The governor’s office has argued that the strategic water supply is necessary for supporting the state’s transition to clean forms of energy while protecting freshwater resources.
In his address to the symposium, Kenney said access to potable water for industrial use was typically the second priority, just behind labor force, for companies inquiring about possible investment in New Mexico. At issue is the high salinity of brackish and produced water without treatment methods that can be expensive.
“I think we can preserve our drinking water by focusing on reuse opportunities that we’re going to learn and talk about today,” Kenney said, linking the issue to economic development as well as the state’s climate change response.
At the same time, Kenney and Morales emphasized in a joint press conference that the state would proceed on the basis of scientific information rather than politics or industrial influence.
“There is not a community that we would give up on in terms of their water quality or quantity,” Kenney said.
“There's not a month that goes by (without) an emergency request for water systems and water issues, especially in rural communities,” Morales added. “We have the opportunity to learn from experts here, helping us to communicate how we can better serve for the long term, for the long haul, and that's really the commitment we have: setting the stage for the opportunities for us throughout Mexico, and throughout generations to come.”
