New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute Hosting Community Meeting on Produced Water

FOR RELEASE: MARCH 14, 2016 From: Robert Sabie, 575-646-5026 New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute Hosting Community Meeting on Produced Water The New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute (NM WRRI), along with the NMSU Eddy County Extension Office, will host a meeting on the potential use of produced water as a means to extend freshwater aquifer supply in Southeastern New Mexico. The meeting will be held at Pecos River Village Conference Center, Room 4 on March 29, 2016 at 2:00 PM in Carlsbad and is open to the public. Persons interested in community water planning are encouraged to attend. NM WRRI recently started a six-month project in Lea and Eddy counties focused on produced water; that is, water that is an incidental byproduct of oil and gas production. The project is funded by the New Mexico Environment Department through funds set aside for protecting sources of public drinking water supply. Researchers from NM WRRI, New Mexico Tech, New Mexico State University, and Los Alamos National Laboratory are collaborating with the communities of Lea and Eddy counties as well as reaching out to agriculturalists, oil and gas industries, and state agencies to approach the research with a holistic view of the various issues surrounding produced water. The project will provide new information on produced water quality and volume by analyzing existing data. New and existing data will be aggregated into an updated produced water database that will drive both geochemical and spatial analyses. The outputs from the analyses will be made available online as web map services. Deliverables also include a regulatory framework and treatment technologies decision support tool. The decision support tool will use criteria such as: status of technology, treatment efficiencies, infrastructure, and energy use, to provide information on the viability, economic feasibility, and beneficial use potential of produced water. The project is slated to be completed by June 30, 2016. Please contact Robert Sabie, Jr., rpsabie@nmsu.edu, 575-646-5026, at the NM WRRI for additional information. -30- The New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute is a nonprofit organization that funds water-related projects at all of New Mexico’s universities. Press is encouraged to attend the meeting.