Produced Water Treatment and Beneficial Use Information Center

State Regulations: New Mexico

The Oil Conservation Division (OCD) in the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department regulates oil and gas and geothermal operations in New Mexico. The OCD has the responsibility to gather oil and gas production data, permit new wells, establish pool rules and oil and gas allowables, issue discharge permits, enforce rules and regulations of the division, monitor underground injection wells, and ensure that abandoned wells are properly plugged and the land is responsibly restored. Otherwise, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) administers the major environmental protection laws. The Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC), which is administratively attached to the NMED, assigns responsibility for administering its regulations to constituent agencies, including the OCD.

The New Mexico Office of the State Engineer (OSE) is responsible for administering the state's water resources. The State Engineer has power over the supervision, measurement, appropriation, and distribution of all surface and groundwater in New Mexico, including streams and rivers that cross state boundaries.

Contact

New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department
Oil Conservation Division
P.O. Box 6429
Santa Fe, NM 87505 (mailing address)
 
1220 South Saint Francis Drive
Santa Fe, NM 87505 (street address)
 
(505) 476-3440 (phone)
(505) 476-3462 (fax)

New Mexico Environment Department
Harold S. Runnels Building
1190 Saint Francis Drive
Santa Fe, NM 87502-0110
(505) 827-2855 (phone)
(800) 219-6157 (toll-free phone)

Water Quality Control Commission
NMED Boards and Commissions
1190 Saint Francis Drive, N2054
Santa Fe, NM 87502
(505) 827-2425 (phone)
(505) 827-2836 (fax)

Office of State Engineer (OSE)
130 South Capitol Street
Concha Ortiz y Pino Building
P.O. Box 25102
Santa Fe, NM 87504-5102
(505) 827-6166 (phone)
(505) 827-3806 (fax)

Produced Water Management Practices and Applicable Regulations

The oil and gas regulations administered by the OCD are contained in Chapter 15 (Oil and Gas) of Title 19 (Natural Resources and Wildlife) of the New Mexico Administrative Code (OCD Rulebook [PDF]).

The environmental protection regulations are provided in Title 20 (Environmental Protection) of the New Mexico Administrative Code. The OCD administers, through delegation by the WQCC, all Water Quality Act regulations pertaining to surface and groundwater (except sewage not present in a combined waste stream).

  • 19.15.34.8 (Transportation of Produced Water)
    • No person shall transport produced water (unless for small samples removed for analysis) by motor vehicle from a lease, central tank battery, or other facility without an approved Form C-133. The transporter shall maintain a photocopy of the approved C-133 in the transporting vehicle.
    • A person may apply for authorization to move produced water by filing a complete Form C-133 with the OCD Santa Fe office. Authorization is granted upon the approval of Form C-133.
    • No owner or operator shall permit produced water to be removed from its leases or field facilities (unless for small samples removed for analysis) by motor vehicle except by a person possessing an approved Form C-133. The OCD shall post a list of currently approved Form C-133 authorization.
    • The Rules provide four reasons for denying approval of a Form C-133.
    • Vehicular movement or disposition of produced water in a manner contrary to division rules, or a ground for denial of approval of Form C-133 shall be cause, after notice and an opportunity for hearing, for cancellation or suspension of a transporter’s authorization to move liquid wastes.
  • 19.15.34.11 (Disposition of Produced Water and Other Oil Field Waste)
    • No person, including any transporter, may dispose of produced water on or below the surface of the ground, or in any pit, pond, lake, depression, draw, streambed, or arroyo, or in any watercourse; in any other place or in any manner that will constitute a hazard to any fresh water supplies; or in any permitted pit or registered or permitted surface waste management facility without the permission of the owner or operator of the pit or facility.
  • 19.15.34.12 (Methods for Disposal of Produced Water)
    • The following methods of disposition of produced water are authorized:
      • In a manner that does not constitute a hazard to fresh water, public health, safety or the environment, delivery to a permitted salt water disposal well or facility, secondary recovery or pressure maintenance injection facility, surface waste management facility or disposal pit permitted pursuant to 19.15.17, or to a drill site for use in drilling fluid; or
      • Use in accordance with an OCD-issued use permit or other OCD authorization.
  • 19.15.36 (Surface Waste Management Facilities)
    • A surface waste management facility means a facility that receives oil field waste for collection, disposal, evaporation, remediation, reclamation, treatment or storage except:
      • a facility that utilizes underground injection wells subject to division regulation pursuant to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, and does not manage oil field wastes on the ground in pits, ponds, below-grade tanks or land application units;
      • a facility permitted pursuant to the New Mexico environmental improvement board rules or WQCC rules;
      • a temporary pit as defined in 19.15.17;
      • a below-grade tank or pit that receives oil field waste from a single well, permitted pursuant to 19.15.17, regardless of the capacity or volume of oil field waste received;
      • a facility located at an oil and gas production facility and used for temporary storage of oil field waste generated on-site from normal operations, if the facility does not pose a threat to fresh water, public health, safety or the environment;
      • a remediation conducted in accordance with a division-approved abatement plan pursuant to 19.15.30, a corrective action pursuant to 19.15.29 or a corrective action of a non-reportable release;
      • a facility operating pursuant to a division emergency order;
      • a site or facility where the operator is conducting emergency response operations to abate an immediate threat to fresh water, public health, safety or the environment or as the division has specifically directed or approved; or
      • a facility that receives only exempt oil field waste, receives less than 50 barrels of liquid water per day (averaged over a 30-day period), has a capacity to hold 500 barrels of liquids or less and is permitted pursuant to 19.15.17.
    • Types of surface waste management facilities
      • A commercial facility is defined as any surface waste management facility that does not meet the definition of centralized facility.
      • A centralized facility is defined as a surface waste management facility that is used exclusively by one generator subject to New Mexico's "Oil and Gas Conservation Tax Act;" that does not involve the receipt of compensation for waste management by the generator or operator; and that receives exclusively oil field wastes that are generated from production units or leases operated by the generator or an affiliate.
    • 19.15.36 provides the requirements governing, among others:
      • OCD permitting, application, public notice, and financial assurance;
      • Permit approval, denial, revocation, suspension, or modification;
      • Siting and operations;
      • Landfarms — Under the regulatory oil field waste acceptance criteria, only certain soils and drill cuttings shall be placed in a landfarm;
      • Evaporation, storage, treatment, and skimmer ponds; and
      • Closure and post-closure.
  • 19.15.26.8 (Injection of Fluids into Reservoirs)
    • The injection of water into a reservoir for the purpose of maintaining reservoir pressure or conducting secondary or other enhanced recovery, or the injection of water into any formation for the purpose of water disposal shall be permitted only by order of the OCD after notice and hearing, unless an exception from this requirement applies.
    • Special rules govern salt water disposal wells:
      • The OCD has authority to grant an exception to the hearing requirements for water disposal wells only when the waters to be disposed of are mineralized to such a degree as to be unfit for domestic, stock, irrigation, or other general use, and when said waters are to be disposed of into a formation older than Triassic (Lea county only) and provided the OCD receives no objections.
      • The OCD shall not permit disposal into zones containing waters having total dissolved solids concentrations of 10,000 mg/1 or less except after notice and hearing, provided, however, that the OCD may establish exempted aquifers for such zones wherein the division may administratively approve such injection. However, the OCD may authorize disposal into such zones if the waters to be disposed of are of higher quality than the native water in the disposal zone.
  • 20.6.2.3104 et seq. (Discharge Operations).
    • Unless otherwise provided by the regulations, no person shall cause to allow effluent or leachate to discharge so it may move directly or indirectly into the ground water unless such discharge is pursuant to an approved discharge plan.
    • The discharge plan is designed to provide protection to groundwater, surface water, and the environment through proper regulation of the transfer and storage of fluids at a facility, and disposal of waste liquids and solids.
    • A proposed discharge plan shall establish in detail the methods or techniques that the discharger intends to use.
    • The OCD will publish a notice and allow for public comment.
  • The OCD has published the Environmental Handbook.
  • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 administers the Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program for New Mexico.

Beneficial Use of Produced Water

The State of New Mexico does not have an official list of approved beneficial uses. The recognition of a beneficial use is at the discretion of the State Engineer. Therefore, the State Engineer has broad authority in considering what constitutes beneficial use in New Mexico. Recognized beneficial uses in the past have included:

  • Agriculture
  • Commercial
  • Domestic
  • Industrial
  • Recreational
  • State conservation goal
  • Livestock watering.

The OSE website offers a water glossary. Although not a regulatory definition, beneficial use is defined there as: "the use of water by man for any purpose which benefits are derived, such as domestic, municipal, irrigation, livestock, industrial, power development, and recreation. Under the New Mexico constitution beneficial use is the basis, the measure and the limit of the right to use water; therefore, beneficial use of public water diverted or impounded by manmade works is an essential element in the development of a water right."

New Mexico law establishes the administrative procedures for appropriating both surface and ground water. In order to appropriate either, a person must obtain a permit from the State Engineer. Before granting a permit for a new appropriation, the State Engineer must determine that there is unappropriated water available for beneficial use by the applicant. For either a new appropriation or a change in the place or purpose of use of an existing water right, he must also find that granting the application will not impair existing rights, that the intended use is not contrary to water conservation within the state and that it is not detrimental to the public welfare of the state.