The Latest From Frack World - Let's Recycle Used Fracking Water For Drinking, Crops And Livestock
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For every barrel of oil produced in the Permian, about four barrels of this “produced water” come out of the earth with it. In 2018 alone, New Mexico’s share of the Permian Basin generated 42 billion gallons of oil and gas wastewater, according to the New Mexico Environment Department. For years, companies simply dumped the contaminated wastewater into disposal wells. Now, there’s keen interest in reusing that water for drilling — and even for other, more controversial purposes.
Amid increasingly scarce fresh water supplies, wastewater recycling is increasingly embraced by everyone from farmers and oil and gas operators to state officials, who see it as a tantalizing solution to one of the arid state’s most intractable problems. With new laws on the books, conditions are primed for a fracking water recycling boom that could rival the Permian Basin’s oil and gas boom, analysts say.
Supporters envision a day when treatment technologies are advanced enough to make fracking wastewater safe for irrigation — maybe even safe enough to drink. But others contend that the water is too contaminated to ever be anything but waste. “Even if we could treat produced water to drinking water standards, why would we?” asked Rebecca Sobel, senior climate and energy campaigner for WildEarth Guardians, a Santa Fe-based environmental group. “Why would the poorest state in the nation invest tremendous amounts of resources into finding a mechanism to turn one of the most toxic substances out there into potable water?”
Abundant oil, scarce water
As divided as New Mexicans might be on the prospect of reusing produced water beyond oil fields, they agree on two things: Southeastern New Mexico is headed for a water crisis, and oil and gas production is resulting in increasing volumes of wastewater. In five years, the Permian is forecast to generate 32 million barrels of produced water per day, up from four million a day currently. By 2030, that number could rise to 38 million barrels daily, analysts say. And it will be increasingly difficult to dispose of the wastewater. Industry analysts say the Permian Basin will eventually run out of suitable places to drill disposal wells — another incentive for oil and gas operators to recycle.
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https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/race-is-on-to-find-uses-for-wastewater-from-fracking/article_b0aca716-42c5-11ea-a4f6-3b9ebef42ce0.html
