Strategic Water Supply Act halfway through Legislature
Mar. 7—SANTA FE — A push to incentivize market treatment and reuse of brackish water is now halfway through the Roundhouse.
The executive-backed Strategic Water Supply Act, proposed in House Bill 137, passed on a 57-4 through the House on Friday. It would allow the state to enter into contracts with or award grants to projects that treat and reuse brackish water — 652-1,303 trillion gallons of which exist in New Mexico, according to the Environment Department.
The bill when first introduced included the treatment and reuse of produced water, or wastewater, from oil and gas operations. But legislators removed that provision and are only focusing on the saline water component to help appease some policymakers and environmentalists.
"We have tried to listen to legislators who have had deep concerns," said bill sponsor Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo.
Herrera also declined to block a Republican amendment to the bill to ensure people can and have time to protest against brackish water reuse projects.
This year's $10.8 billion budget proposal sets aside $40 million for the strategic water supply program, should the legislation pass. It also appropriates $19 million for the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology to conduct aquifer mapping and $4 million for New Mexico State University to continue studying water reuse and treatment technology and projects.
The appropriation is $35 million less than the bill initially sought. The Strategic Water Supply Act began as a $500 million bill last year, and legislators have since watered it down to accommodate concerns around the feasibility of the program.
The state can get started with $40 million, said Rebecca Roose, infrastructure advisor to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
"We would like to see more of an investment in this area," she told the Journal after the bill's passage. "We think the need is there. We think the opportunity and potential is there."
Roose added that although produced water isn't a part of the Strategic Water Act anymore, the state is committed to continuing to work this year and beyond "on getting the regulatory provisions in place and continuing to invest for treatment and reuse."
The executive's office could come back for legislative market incentives in the future, she said, or the market could take off on its on once the regulations are in place.
"We won't know for sure until we get there," Roose said.
Lujan Grisham said in a statement Friday afternoon that the legislation is a "forward-thinking approach" to managing water.
"By developing New Mexico's brackish water resources, we're charting a new course that balances economic opportunity with responsible stewardship of our freshwater supplies," she said.
The four votes against the bill came from Democratic Reps. Marianna Anaya, Dayan Hochman-Vigil and Patricia Roybal Caballero, all of Albuquerque, and Angelica Rubio of Las Cruces.
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