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The Sureste RC&D Area was authorized
in February 1992, which completed coverage of the RC&D Program across New
Mexico. Sureste RC&D Council, Inc. became a corporation in July 1993 and
received nonprofit status in January 1995.
Sureste, the Spanish word for southeast, covers Chaves, Eddy and Lea
Counties, encompassing 9.1 million acres, or 14,220 square miles, and serves a
population of approximately 180,000. Agricultural and gas and oil industries
dominate the area's economic base.
The mission of the Council is "Local people uniting to improve the
standard of life for Southeast New Mexicans through `Visions with Action'."
Reclamation and Purification of Oilfield Produced Water
Lea Soil and Water
Conservation District submitted a request for funding assistance to begin a
project to reclaim produced oilfield water from oil and gas extraction
operations. Presently, fresh water is used during the drilling
process. The proposed project would use the water that is produced
during the drilling process and deliver it to a site where the water would be
cleaned up to a point where it could be utilized for irrigation and or
recreation purposes. It was decided to enter into "Joints Power
Agreement" with the Carlsbad SWCD and a Water Reclamation Taskforce was
formed. This group was charged with coming up with a pilot project to utilize
the latest technology in cleaning up water. Some parameters were put in
place and a solicitation for bids was published and distributed throughout the
southwest region of the country.
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Several bids were received and a
selection was made with a small company out of Lubbock, TX "Aqua Control
Processes." The pilot project would be run for six weeks with a final
report due by January 15, 2002. On the final day of the pilot project a
legislative and media tour was held to show them the results of the test.
To our pleasant surprise the results were better than we could have hoped
for. Initially, we wanted to get the waters TDS (total dissolved solids)
to about 6000 ppm TDS and have it done for about eight cents per 42 gallon
barrel. This would have been a great success to get the water cleaned up
to this level. During the tour the readings that the equipment were
showing astonished us as we were getting readings of 30 ppm which is cleaner
than most drinking water standards. In addition, preliminary reports are
showing that the cost per barrel is around 3-5 cents/barrel. It currently
cost the oil and gas industry about 30 cents per barrel to dispose of the
produced water. There are still several questions that need to be
addressed before we can start full production. However, the potential in
savings to the oil and gas industry is astronomical and the amount of water that
can be put to beneficial use is limitless as in Lea County alone we produce
approximately 40 million gallons of water daily. There have been several
partners involved in this project including, Leas and Carlsbad SWCD's, Sureste
RC&D Council, Inc., Department of Energy, Lea County Economic Development
Corp., New Mexico Soil and Water Conservation Commission, New Mexico Department
of Agriculture and the New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts.
This project has some far-reaching implications as this technology could
potentially be used throughout the world. Be on the lookout for further
developments on this project. |
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