Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham made waves in 2023 when she announced a plan to ensure a secure water source for New Mexico.
She pointed to two unorthodox, untapped water resources: brackish water -- or naturally occurring, salty water -- and what's known as "produced water" -- a byproduct of hydraulic fracturing.
The latter instantly generated controversy.
Although the measure floundered last year, Lujan Grisham was ready to try again to incentivize the treatment and reuse of both brackish water and fracking wastewater.
"That's why I'm proposing, again, a strategic water supply," Lujan Grisham said at her State of the State address in January. "Our state, like so many others, is facing a severe water shortage, and climate change is only making the problem worse. Yet we have enormous reserves of brackish water lying beneath our feet. And we have massive amounts of industrial water that is being injected right back into the ground."
Weeks later, a legislative committee substitute for the "strategic water supply" bill aims to strip so-called produced water from the measure.
Rebecca Roose, who leads the strategic water supply plan for the Governor's Office, said the substitute measure includes two main changes from the original bill. In addition to removing fracking wastewater projects, it will include a "broader universe" of brackish water. Initially, the bill only allowed projects to take advantage of deep groundwater, 2,500 feet below the surface, to avoid conflicts over water rights. The new version would allow for shallower wells to be tapped, as long as the projects respect existing water rights-holders and follow state regulations.
The new measure also strips a per-barrel fee that would have been imposed on fracking wastewater.
The committee substitute is scheduled to be heard at 8 a.m. Saturday in the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
'Lipstick on a pig'
The changes were made in response to feedback from lawmakers and other stakeholders, Roose said. Last year, a half-billion-dollar proposal for a strategic water supply failed to clear the Legislature. In November, a state Environment Department adviser predicted this year's leaner bill, with a $75 million appropriation, was more likely to succeed.
But criticism endured, particularly due to the proposed use of the fracking byproduct.
Even before the legislative session began, more than 50 organizations had signed onto a letter urging lawmakers to reject the plan. Changes were made, but criticism continued. In an early February news release, the Santa Fe-based nonprofit New Energy Economy said the changes improved the bill, but it was still "lipstick on a pig."
A coalition of organizations protested the plan Wednesday, projecting messages on the Roundhouse urging legislators not to "gamble with our water."
"Fracking water is not water," said Roberto Roibal, a member of Defend NM Water. "Defend New Mexico water. We refuse to let our acequias, rivers, farms, drinking water and children be sacrificed for the ambitions of the corrupt. Because in the end, el agua es la vida, water is life, and no amount of greed is worth the price of a dying world."
Some of the changes made to the bill included banning PFAS-contaminated water from produced water reuse projects and requiring the disclosure of chemicals used during the fracking process. Treated fracking wastewater could not be used for drinking water, farming or ranching.
Ultimately, however, the Governor's Office decided to ditch produced water in the committee substitute.
"We made some improvements over the past week or two to the bill, but we're certainly understanding that a lot of members, a lot of lawmakers, still have a lot of concerns about whether it's prudent to create a program like the strategic water supply to advance produced water reuse," Roose said.
Despite moving away from produced water in the strategic water supply bill, the requested appropriation of $75 million will remain, Roose said.
Produced water overflow
Norm Gaume, resident of New Mexico Water Advocates, said tapping shallower aquifers makes the proposal more workable.
According to a feasibility study, brackish water is typically cheaper to treat than fracking wastewater, but it can be costly to bring to the surface.
Gaume said a deep-brackish-water project in Sandoval County faced other challenges, as well: The water was corrosive, radioactive and "very difficult to deal with."
"Deep brackish water would be extremely challenging," he said.
Despite the changes to the legislation, Gaume is critical of what he thinks are misplaced priorities on water policy in the state. There's still a lack of knowledge about the state's aquifers and brackish water resources, Gaume said.
"Clean water has massive needs," Gaume said. "We shouldn't spend money on dirty water until the science is there. On brackish water, part of the science is there -- we know how to treat it. [But] do we know enough about the resources and what tapping those resources would do?"
Another problem remains -- the state has more produced water than it knows what to do with.
In a September committee hearing, Environment Secretary James Kenney said even if 95% of fracking wastewater was recycled back into oil and gas operations, the state would still have 1.9 billion gallons of the dirty water on its hands.
According to the feasibility study for the strategic water supply, the vast majority of fracking wastewater is injected into the ground, not recycled -- a disposal technique that has raised concerns about increased seismic activity.
The idea of recycling fracking wastewater isn't off the table, Roose said, it's just not in this bill.
She acknowledged the Legislature could potentially "revisit" an incentive program for produced water, but emphasized other work on the byproduct is underway.
A proposed rule before the Water Quality Control Commission would establish a regulatory framework for produced water reuse. And another bill relating to produced water -- House Bill 311 -- passed its first committee Thursday. The bill would allow for the creation of reclaimed water authorities, and allow for the use and sale of reclaimed water, including treated wastewater and produced water.
"We are still awaiting a final decision from the commission on what rules they will adopt as a result of that rulemaking process," Roose said.
"There's also ongoing scientific research through our wonderful academic institutions at New Mexico State University and New Mexico Tech," she said, "as well as with many partners who are part of the Produced Water Research Consortium. Those groups continue to fill scientific gaps in our understanding of treatment technologies and efficacy and the ability to treat and remove contaminants from produced water at at a level that's that safe and will meet standards established for environmental and public health protection."