To Restrict Or Reuse? New Mexico's Produced Water Conundrum

New Mexico is debating what to do with the billions of gallons of toxic produced water generated from oil and gas drilling. The state is facing water shortages in the coming decades, and experts are currently struggling to determine whether it is better to reuse the water or treat it for discharge back into the environment.

While some of the water can be recycled for future drilling, the rest is currently injected into one of more than 700 deep injection wells built specifically for this purpose. But concerns about earthquakes have led to restrictions on disposal wells. Even with common treatment technologies, produced water is too risky to discharge into rivers. In addition to its high salinity, produced water contains a cocktail of hazardous compounds such as radium, arsenic, benzene, toluene, and more.