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Pecos River Village Conference Center, Carlsbad, NM – March 29th, 2016 – 2:00-4:00 PM

The Feasibility of Utilizing Produced Water to Improve Water Supply

Sustainability in Southeastern New Mexico

Water scarcity impacts are widespread

Oil and Gas – Farmers selling water for fracking

Surface supply shortages– Rio Grande Project 2013 smallest release ever

Ranching– Destocked herds– Windmills not functioning

Urban supplies– Stretched by drought– Planning under uncertainty

Groundwater aquifers– fossil water aquifers declining– river connected aquifers not being recharged

Community water supplies– 290 at risk single well systems– 4 broken systems in 2013

• Water supplies in SE NM are confronted with scarcity• Oil and gas generates produced water of over 100,000

acre-feet per year in Eddy and Lea counties• Previous interest in produced water for water supply

longevity• 2004 study of produced water potential• 2016 NMED-funded 6 month study with source water

protection funds from the US EPA

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Interest in Researching Produced Water

Produced Water for Water Supply Sustainability

Purpose: Improve the sustainability of water supplies by contributing

new information regarding produced water to offset use of freshwater.

• Outreach to communities and industry stakeholders

• Update produced database

• Examine the spatial variability of produced water quality and quantity

• Create web-based maps of water quality, water volume, and variability of quality and volume over time

• Analyze treatment technologies

• Review regulatory framework for discussion with agencies

• Analyze produced water suitability for a variety of industry and non-industry uses

Project Tasks

2:00 Eddy County NMSU Extension (Woods Houghton, NMSU Extension Office)

2:10 Project Overview (Robert Sabie, New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute)

2:20 Regulatory Framework of Produced Water (Dr. Jeri Sullivan-Graham, Los Alamos National Laboratory/New Mexico Energy, Minerals and National Resources Division)

2: 30 Source Water Protection (David Torres, New Mexico Environment Department)

2:40 Produced Water Database (Martha Cather, Petroleum Recovery Research Center, New Mexico Tech)

2:50 Break3:00 Geospatial Analysis of TDS Levels in the Permian Basin (Spencer Willman and Dr. KC Carroll, New Mexico State University)

3:10 Produced Water Web-based Mapping (Robert Sabie, New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute)

3:20 Agriculture and Produced Water (Dr. Robert Flynn, NMSU Artesia Science Center)

3:30 Decision Support Tool for Produced Water (Guanyu Ma and Dr. Pei Xu, New Mexico State University)

3:40 Discussion#

Agenda

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Questions or thoughts on presentations: (Note: If you wish to provide feedback and turn these sheets in at the end of the meeting it is strictly voluntary. The information will only be used to address questions or concerns about the project in future meetings.)

Project Overview:

NMSU Extension:

Regulatory Framework:

Source Water Protection:

Produced Water Database:

Geospatial Analysis:

Web-based Mapping:

Produced Water and Agriculture:

Decision Support Tool:

Additional Comments:

Based on your experience and the information presented what do you view as the opportunities and limitations of using produced water to extend water supplies?

What additional information do you think is necessary in order to make informed decisions about using produced water?

Feedback

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THANK YOU