{"id":49505,"date":"2026-08-14T11:29:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T18:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/?p=49505"},"modified":"2026-08-14T11:29:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T18:29:21","slug":"a-water-redux-on-nmif","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/a-water-redux-on-nmif\/","title":{"rendered":"A Water Redux on NMiF"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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First thing\u2019s first: Let\u2019s acknowledge the mercy of rainfall across broad swaths of the state. The central mountain chain, the Rio Grande Valley, the northern mountains and much of Western New Mexico have all clocked measurable amounts in recent weeks.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
It\u2019s about time.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But let\u2019s also agree that the water picture here is far more nuanced and deep-seated than what clouds too full to hold back and afternoon thunderstorms \u2014 even the torrential kind \u2014 could ever solve alone.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this week\u2019s episode, we\u2019ll explore some of that complexity by revisiting a few previously aired stories all connected in one way or another by the challenges we face with two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in May, the U.S. Supreme Court closed the book on a 13-year street fight that came to be known as Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado. The justices\u2019 order, which flowed from the 1938 Rio Grande Compact, at long last settled how the states must divvy up water below Elephant Butte Reservoir \u2014 among other provisions. Not long after the decision came down, Host\u00a0Nash Jones spoke with Danielle Prokop<\/a>, a journalist who has followed the case for years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also have\u00a0Nash\u2019s May 1<\/a>\u00a0chat with New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney about the state\u2019s efforts to demand clean-up of and accountability around PFAS \u2014 the so-called forever chemicals that have poisoned our soil and water for decades.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of this week\u2019s show excavates an issue regular NMiF viewers will be plenty familiar with: the push to expand the legal uses for fracking wastewater beyond the state\u2019s oil fields. The idea has powerful friends \u2014 outgoing Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham among them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driving the bus for the let\u2019s-do-it crowd is an oil and gas industry-backed group called the Water, Access, Treatment and Reuse Alliance \u2014 cheekily acronymed, the \u201cWATR Alliance.\u201d On June 9, Capital and Main reporter and In-Focus correspondent Jerry Redfern sat with Matthias Sayer, the group\u2019s vice president,\u00a0to dig into why<\/a>\u00a0the WATR ALLIANCE says using so-called \u201cproduced\u201d water in a host of new contexts is safe \u2014 and why it should happen now.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s plenty of opposition to the idea, too.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tannis Fox of the Western Environmental Law Center has stood against unleashing this wastewater since whispers of the idea began floating on the wind. On May 22,\u00a0Fox came in to lay out her concerns<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll be back next week with fresh news and analysis and, hopefully, a little more wear and tear on our wiper blades and raincoats.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n


-Jeff Proctor, Executive Producer

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