27 FEBRUARY 2024 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Recycling Produced Water for Clean Energy Adapted from Information by The Office of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham recently announced a first-of-itskind strategic water supply plan to increase drought resilience and advance clean energy production and storage in the state. In the U.S. Southwest, water shortages are common; reservoirs and groundwater supplies are critically low and not recharging at sufficient rates to ensure future water security. In Albuquerque, the Rio Grande went dry for the first time in four decades in August 2022, demonstrating how current water supplies do not align with future demand. Some climate models predict up to a 25% reduction in available water across the state. The governor’s plan, through a $500 million investment, involves the state purchasing treated brackish and produced water to rebuild the strategic water supply. The New Mexico Environment Department started its search for companies interested in pursuing a contract. The contracting model, used in other industries like health care for manufacturing vaccines, is known as an advanced market commitment. Advanced market commitments reduce the risk of private sector investment and spur first movers to build otherwise costly infrastructure. Companies awarded an advanced market commitment contract can secure private capital to build and operate water treatment facilities with the assurance the State of New Mexico will purchase the water. Then, the state will make the water available for creating green hydrogen; storing energy produced by wind and solar; manufacturing electric vehicles, microchips, solar panels, and wind turbines; and other uses as treatment and demand allow. New Mexico sits atop substantial aquifers of brackish saltwater, which cannot be used for human or agricultural consumption without treatment. Brackish water supplies are separate from freshwater resources underground. Estimates indicate there may be between two and four billion acre-feet of brackish water underneath New Mexico. A 25 million-gallon-per-day brackish water treatment plant could produce up to 27,900 acre-feet of potable water a year. For comparison, this would cover approximately 70% of the annual consumption of water in the Albuquerque area, which is roughly 40,000 acre-feet. In addition, over 2 billion barrels of produced water were generated by gas and oil operations in 2022, of which 1.2 billion barrels were injected into deep wells for permanent disposal in New Mexico. Diverting a mere 3% of the produced water disposed of in injection wells to make hydrogen could result in enough energy to fully power over 2 million homes annually. Governor Grisham will seek the $500 million in nongeneral fund dollars; this includes $250 million to be appropriated in the upcoming legislative session and $250 million in the 2025 legislative session. The funding is secured through revenues from severance taxes collected on oil, gas, and other natural resources. Strategically locating brackish and produced water treatment facilities around the state can offset demand for freshwater. In the future, the development of science-based regulatory standards may allow for expanded uses of treated water from the strategic water supply. The New Mexico Environment Department recently requested public comments on proposed water reuse rules. Once finalized, the water reuse rules will create a consistent and sciencebased permitting program to attract more investment in water reuse. All treated water must comply with New Mexico Environment Department regulations and permitting requirements. Photo courtesy of the New Mexico Produced Water Research Consortium at New Mexico State University. ENV
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