Why some see New Mexico's treated oil wastewater as a drought solution | REUTERS

Published: Sep 11, 2024 Duration: 00:04:44 Category: News & Politics

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[Music] this is the peran Basin the most productive oil and gas region in the United States in 2022 the industry in New Mexico produced enough toxic fracking Wastewater to cover more than 26,000 acres of land a foot deep and while the state's Drillers reuse over 85% of their produced water the rest is pumped underground but injection Wells are filling up and New Mexico has started restricting deep underground disposal now the water scarce state is expected to export over 3 million barrels of that water per day by the end of 2024 but a growing group of politicians seiz the problem as an opportunity a source of water in a region suffering from worsening drought size of some of the ranches in can Steven Aldridge is the mayor of j a small town near the peran Basin we live in o gas sector everything is surrounded by oil and gas in a short helicopter ride over the Basin they're pretty large alridge points out more than a dozen man-made lagoons that are brimming with toxic Wastewater it's just one of the many ways New Mexico stores the large volumes produced there's three on that one Aldridge is one of the politicians who want the state to develop regulations allowing for produced water to be treated and used in instead of discarded and they're asking companies to figure out how to make it happen cheaply safely and at scale I try to look at uh the produced water the treatment of it as a new water source and I know that's an argument that a lot of people won't have but we have to work together enter AIS Water Solutions one of around 10 Wastewater firms taking up the challenge under a state supported pilot program it's so far spur projects to grow crops like hemp and cotton and irrigate rangeland forage grasses at ays the untreed water is trucked in by local Drillers and held in storage tanks before getting piped through a membrane filter to remove solids and then distilled here is plant 4man Michael Robins so this is your plant water coming in that we're actually getting from directly from the pipeline the second one is our daap this is right before it goes into our pre-treatment system and then this is our final product AA says the water is free of pollutants or radi nucleid and is fit for industrial or agricultural uses the main problem for ays and others is the cost it's $2 per barrel for ais's treated water many times higher than what industrial or agricultural water users typically pay the company's goal is to bring it down to $1 a barrel still a big Bill the other debate is how the water should be used many opponents worry there could be unintended human health consequences and Daniel so a former Navajo Nation council member told Reuters that Navajo had been stung before in New Mexico when Decades of uranium mining on their land in the last century led to widespread radioactive pollution New Mexico Democratic governor Michelle Luhan Grisham introduced legislation late last year that would have created a strategic water Reserve out of treated produced water the bill was defeated by state lawmakers but will be brought up again in January other states like Colorado and California already use treated produced water in small amounts for limited uses like agriculture but in New Mexico the Wastewater volumes are overwhelming and the water itself needs much more intensive treatment as it is unusually Briny nothing happen with that water for alridge though it's worth the fight he sees it as an opportunity for his own town of J to become home to Industries like data centers or green hydrogen projects that rely on water supply I think the science and technology is there again the scope and scale communities like J are going to need that water source am I want 100% convinced no but they're taking the step to convince me and I need to uh take those steps with them [Music]

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