This is a map of 94 wells across New Mexico that the state can use to characterize brackish water aquifers, according to state researchers. Advocates, experts and even industry leaders interested in tapping New Mexico’s brackish water supply all say there needs to be more data for the burgeoning market. (Map from recent presentation slide)
As the state pushes forward with a plan to spur a treated brackish water industry in New Mexico, experts are calling for greater investment in underground mapping long before the first salty aquifer is tapped.
The Water Data Initiative, a group of state agencies and academics, seeks to continue the mapping of aquifers and expand other data collection and sharing, an effort to fully map out the state’s water resources as demand increases in an increasingly arid West.
To do that, the initiative issued a report Aug. 30 asking state lawmakers to increase its funding by more than $7 million, including $2.1 million in money that would recur annually.
One key area identified for mapping by the initiative is brackish water aquifers, which sit more than 2,500 feet below the surface and contain water that corrodes equipment and is too salty for humans or livestock to drink. Companies across the country and world are weighing in on a state proposal to harvest that water, treat it and then sell it to the state. The state would then sell it to other companies.
Creating a market for brackish water is a main component of the so-called “Strategic Water Supply,” an effort spearheaded by the New Mexico Environment Department at the direction of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. Another key component seeks to create a similar market for wastewater produced by oil and gas extraction.
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At the moment, the Water Data Initiative has access to fewer than 100 wells in New Mexico that serve as data points useful in describing the quality or quantity of brackish water aquifers, said Stacy Timmons, associate director of hydrogeology programs at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Natural Resources.
“We grabbed all the data that we could get,” Timmons told state lawmakers at an interim committee meeting last week.
The small number of useful monitoring wells means Timmons cannot answer when people ask her how much brackish water exists in New Mexico, she said. She told lawmakers she’d received multiple such phone calls this year.
“That’s a really important thought to add to the consideration with the Strategic Water Supply and brackish water utilization, potentially,” Timmons said.
Some Indigenous and environmental groups are worried Lujan Grisham is basing her plan on false promises about the extent of the state’s existing brackish water resources. They’ve also said they’re worried what the side effects might be of extracting water from so deep in the ground.
It’s not just the initiative and advocacy groups that are raising concerns about a lack of data about the makeup of the aquifers deep underground.
In January, the New Mexico Environment Department asked for technical and economic feedback from from the industry and academics on how they’d harvest brackish water, what it would take to treat it, and how much they’d charge the state.
The request drew nine responses concerned solely about the brackish water proposal before the March 31 deadline. Four of the responses mentioned the lack of data as an impediment to going forward.
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“Sparse or outdated data on brackish water resources may result in inaccurate assessments of water availability and quality,” reads one response from New Mexico Water, LLC, a small company that provides water and wastewater services to about 21,000 New Mexicans.
The state environment department initially planned to put the proposal out for bid this summer and said it will select a winning company by later this year, or early next year. However, New Mexico lawmakers refused to fund the proposal.
Lujan Grisham unveiled the proposal shortly before the 30-day legislative session earlier this year, along with a request that lawmakers put aside $500 million to fund it. The proposal failed in the session’s final days despite some creative legislative maneuvers.
However, Rebecca Roose, the governor’s infrastructure adviser, told lawmakers in June that the governor’s office intends to re-introduce the measure at the 2025 session. The governor also promised at her post-session news conference in February that the fight wasn’t over.
“I don’t give up on it,” she said.