Texas Pacific Water Resources is testing beneficial reuse of produced water at its facility in Midland County with research on native plants and soils. The partnership with Texas Produced Water Consortium, New Mexico Produced Water Research Consortium and Cornerstone also attracted the attention of commissioner Jim Wright of the Railroad Commission of Texas. Researchers are growing plants (including alfalfa) with soils from Loving, Midland and Reeves counties in glass cases and treated with produced water from oil and gas operations.
Wright told Midland Reporter Telegram beneficial reuse is important to addressing seismicity and injection. “There have been a lot of conversations,” he said, “but I’m excited to see action and initiative… This is more exciting for me than anything I’ve seen at the Railroad Commission.” He said it’s important to educate regulators, legislators and the public about produced water and the work being done to convert it to beneficial reuse.