ENVIRONMENT
State doles out $13 million for brackish water projects
Latest round of funding concludes $40 million appropriated during 2025 legislative session
WSP, a global professional services firm headquartered in Montreal, has received a $9.1 million contract to scope for brackish water in the Middle Rio Grande Basin.
That was the largest of the $13 million in contracts to companies to help the state鈥檚 effort to search for and develop the basins of salty water more than 2,000 feet underneath New Mexico鈥檚 surface.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham鈥檚 administration, in its , estimates the state will have a water shortfall of more than 244 billion gallons over the next 50 years. The governor has pitched brackish water as a solution to the shortage. The Legislature appropriated $35 million to the grant program during the 2026 session. Lawmakers in the 2025 session also appropriated $40 million for the strategic water supply projects; $25.9 million of that went to seven grant recipients in December, with this round of contracts making up the remainder.
The Environment Department estimates that 1.3 trillion gallons of brackish water are stored underground.
鈥淏y advancing brackish water desalination, resource mapping, and real-world demonstration projects, we are building the technical foundation needed to unlock new water sources statewide,鈥� Environment Secretary James Kenney said in a Monday announcement by his agency. 鈥淭hese investments move New Mexico closer to a future where every community has access to reliable, drought-resilient water supplies.鈥�
But such extraction of brackish water comes with costs, both financial and environmental. Bruce Thomson, professor emeritus of civil engineering at the University of New Mexico, in a presentation to the Legislature, noted that brackish water can be in deep geological formations that are difficult to access, requiring many wells and surface pipes. There is no recharge in most basins. And disposal of desalinated waste is difficult.
Indewater of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 received $3.7 million to develop a mobile brackish-water desalination pilot plant that will serve rural and tribal communities. It is in partnership with New Mexico State University. The state will own the mobile plant and 鈥渂e able to deploy it in the coming years, giving us a tool to quickly determine whether desalination is an option for communities that are seeing their water supply become more brackish,鈥� the Environmental Department said in its announcement.
Harmony, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, received $271,368, for work on desalination technology 鈥渢o improve cattle health and business sustainability鈥� at Menefee Farms in Lake Arthur. The money will help pay for a more efficient reverse osmosis system.
鈥淭hese contracts give us the data, tools, and experience needed to make long-term, science-based decisions about New Mexico鈥檚 water future,鈥� State Engineer Elizabeth Anderson said in the announcement. 鈥淯nderstanding where and how we can responsibly develop brackish water resources is essential to easing pressure on our freshwater systems.鈥�
Justin Horwath covers energy and tech for the Journal. He can be reached at jhorwath@abqjournal.com.
