Lawmakers urge water board to reconsider produced water rule
… With New Mexico water sources expected to become increasingly strained by more demand and shrinking supplies from a hotter, drier climate, the relationship between oil and gas and its wastewater has sparked a major policy debate in the past few legislative sessions and in the (New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission’s) rulemaking. The state’s oil and gas production generates billions of gallons of wastewater, which is extremely salty and can include radioactive materials and heavy metals from underground; chemicals used in the fracking process; or cancer-causing or toxic compounds mixed in from the oil and gas, such as benzene. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has floated using treated oil and gas wastewater in manufacturing and other industries in her Strategic Water Supply proposals, but lawmakers stripped produced water from the final bill.
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