[00:00:01] Speaker A: Out here on the Texas Plains, water is everything. And there's a resource that's as vital as it is fragile. Our Playa Lakes. These lakes are nature's reservoir, catching rainwater to recharge our aquifer and provide lifelines for wildlife. But now they need our help. In collaboration with the Texas Playa Lakes Conservation Initiative and the Cargill Global Water Challenge, Sarah has started the Our Legacy Is Tomorrow's Water initiative today to inspire and work with landowners to restore and protect our Playa Lakes. Each playa we save helps secure a sustainable water future for the generations that will be coming after us.
Whether it's improving soil health, restoring habitats, or recharging groundwater, we are committed to making a difference.
Together, we can build a legacy that we can all be proud of. To learn how you can join in, visit the Playa Lakes Restoration Initiative page or on the SARAH website.
Let's keep Texas water flowing strong for the future. Visit sara-conservation.com Today's episode is brought to you by Evan Stone with Clear Rock Farm and Ranch, part of the Clear Rock Realty Group in Lubbock, Texas. Evan understands West Texas land, agriculture and what it takes to buy and sell farms and ranches in our unique region.
If you're ready to make your next move, trust someone who knows the lay of the land. Visit Evan at clearrockrealty.com serving Lubbock and the surrounding communities, Clear Rock Farms and Ranch, your partner on the plains.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: Friends and welcome back to another episode of Conservation Stories. Conservation Stories is a podcast brought to you by Sand Hill Area Research Association. Today we want to kind of interrupt our usual routine to bring back a Produced Water Society fellow. We've had Ben Samuels on the podcast before Mike Hightower, so several folks that are part of a Produce Water Society. But I wanted to bring Michael on today because there's an upcoming event in Midland that we want to let you know about.
And Michael, can you give us a little bit about yourself and what you do with the Produce Water Society?
[00:02:30] Speaker C: Well, first of all, obviously thanks for having me on. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about this group.
My day job, I work in water treatment technology. I've worked in a variety of different spaces and I just volunteer some time on the side for the Produce Water Society. But I think it's a fantastic group. It's kind of why I my most many a few hours of unpaid labor. Labor of love I guess to the Produce Water Society. But great group. It's been around 30 plus years and the core of the group is talking you know, is getting folks together to talk about water management in oil and gas. Right. So that can seem like a fairly niche topic, but it's become really, really important, especially, you know, in West Texas, southeast New Mexico, as kind of the, you know, explosion of production out there, but also kind of the increasing water cut, you know, of producers out there. And so kind of how do we manage this water responsibly, you know, what technologies, but also what support from government BoD and from other industries, you know, can potentially be involved to help develop a systematic solution to water management.
And that's how we started talking with the Sandhill Area Research association and other groups. Right. I personally come back from water treatment, like I said, but other folks in this group are maybe university researchers who have developed a new treatment technology or an oil and gas producer might, you know, know how to logistically move around what are their operations, maybe get it to the way they've done it before, disposal wells, things like that. But what if they want to partner with somebody, a local, you know, ag producer? Right. You know, I know EMP people might call themselves producer, ag producers might call themselves producers. So we'll be clear on our producers, who we're talking about. But you know, what if a local ag producer wanted to potentially use, you know, treated, cleaned up water from oil and gas operations? It's something we've in theory been talking about, you know, as a group and as, you know, even as an industry.
But how does that work? We'd love to hear from, you know, from folks like you and from your audience at these events. So, you know, open invitation to kind of everybody, you know, like I said, so the railroad commission and tceq, right. Regulators to come participate in these dialogues.
Anybody who's interested in water and how it's managed in this space would love to, you know, both have you participate as an audience member or as an actual, you know, get in the dialogue. We'd love to hear from you. So, yeah, kind of the high level of dialogues that we're having there.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: Yeah. And it really, it is a great opportunity for people to really come and learn, you know, how much water we're talking about, what the opportunities are for it and what the roadblocks are. And I mean, I don't know how much you are, you know, into all the policy side of it, but I know we've seen two different responses from Texas and New Mexico recently on how they feel about the use of this.
Really, it's a new resource for, for us that we need to be taking and Utilizing and you know, to think that in New Mexico where they're saying, you know, there's no use for this, but they're not cutting down oil production.
Well, you know, I just think the short sightedness of not thinking, you know, in what we would call that circular economy where you're utilizing that waste product in, you know, especially in a region that is really dry and could use all of the excess water, you know, so I think there's some great, great opportunities, you know, I think for a dairy, it's a great opportunity. You know, they, they use water and do a great job of recycling and using that water over and over and over again, you know, and so there's some great potential opportunities and uses in ag. And so I'm excited. Lacey's spoken at a couple of these events and we've had, you know, some great follow up conversations from those, from those events. And so I'm excited.
You know, we've, we've put together, you know, four different types of projects that we think that will, you know, get some things rolling in agriculture. So, so can you give us a little bit of an overview of what to expect from speakers?
[00:06:46] Speaker C: Sure. So the event is August 11th to 13th in Midland, less than two weeks away. And so August 11th, we have a welcome reception that evening. Most of the content will be on the 12th and the 13th, so that there are a variety of speakers. Two full days of content, but the first day we'll have a focus on kind of current water management practices, which is heavy in injection and disposal. So some talks about monitoring downhole pressure. How do you safely and, you know, sustainably operate your injection? Well, things like that.
The second day will have a heavier emphasis on kind of some of the things we're talking about here. Beneficial use of the treated water. How can we, you know, take oil and gas, wastewater, clean it up to a standard, you know, how do we validate that? What are the, what are the regulations around that look like kind of variety of speakers in that space. And I believe Lacy is sitting on a panel there on that second day talking about, you know, I believe the panel we had some catchy title. What is it? Got Water Ag needs you I think is kind of how we named that one.
So, so, you know, Lacy and other ag producers talking about kind of how they use water in their industry. Right. Because folks in oil and gas, you know, until I started hearing from Lacy and others, right. I knew in theory water is used in agriculture, but I had no idea. I didn't know what a caliche Pit was. I didn't know what, you know, things like, you know, different. The logistics are really important when you talk about, you know, oil and gas generates, you know, and we'll just fill the beans a little bit. Right. Millions and millions of gallons every single day of water.
Now, you know, in this raw form, it needs to be cleaned up. But I mean, in theory, Right. If this is all cleaned up and there's technologies out there, you'll hear at the Produce Water Society talk about different technologies that can be used.
Right. Where does this water go? You know, you. You know, oil. Oil and gas makes roughly the same amount of water every day. AG needs water seasonally. Right. So how do we manage that interplay? You know, things like that are kind of all really important discussions we need to be having. You know, I'd love to see these things, these projects happen. You know, then there's talk about them, there's interest. I would love to kind of work through these logistics and make sure we're all on the same page.
[00:08:56] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And it really is about, you know, getting past some of the.
Some of the regulations, you know, proving that, you know, we already have the Clean Water Act. You know, there's. I know there's technology that can meet those standards for the Clean Water Act. And so, you know, once. Once you can prove that you've done that, you know, I feel like Texas is. Is ready to move forward on some of these projects. And I'm. I'm hoping that we can really get some good, you know, so good support from our legislatures to. Let's get. Let's get a few of these projects on the ground.
[00:09:35] Speaker C: Absolutely.
Yeah. And for everyone's, you know, go. Go to the Bruce Water Society website and look at the agenda. But it kind of, you know, in addition to Lacy's panel. Right. That there will. We will be hearing from Commissioner Gonzalez from tceq. We'll be giving. As well as Chief Engineer Ted Wooten from the Railroad Commission. Right. You know, we want to. We've invited these folks, you know, to come out and participate in these dialogues, because I think it's really important to make sure that we hear from them as well and make sure we're engaging with these bodies as we move forward.
[00:10:07] Speaker B: Exactly. And this meeting is in Midland, but you have several events throughout the year. And the Produce Water Society, for people who don't know, is in an international organization, because this is not just a Permian Basin issue. This is an issue that's. That's come along with the technologies, as technologies have Increased and improved. We're able to access more oil and gas, but we access more water. And I call it new water because it's, it's water we would never have accessed otherwise.
[00:10:41] Speaker C: Now. Absolutely. And please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but, you know, so as somebody who's done a lot of work in industrial wastewater, I'm tempted to use the term beneficial reuse. Right. That, that's very common language in industrial wastewater. But as you pointed out, right. The. The produced water that comes from oil and gas is formation water. This was water that was trapped deep, deep, deep, well below our typical reach. Right. If not for the oil and gas activity, this water would never have come to the surface. Right. So this is truly a new source of water. And especially in places, you know, like the Middle east, like, you know, West Texas. Right. Where access to water for ag and other things is limited. This is a potentially very valuable resource that has been treated as a waste.
[00:11:20] Speaker B: Absolutely. And I've seen, I've met with companies that have.
They have, you know, got projects going in the Middle east where they have, you know, mangroves. They fit in these, you know, lakes, and they have these mangroves in the middle of the desert, you know what I mean? And so it's really fascinating to see, you know, some things like that where I don't think of, you know, places in the desert that sand being able to really hold on to that water.
But they're seeing some great, you know, they're just seeing great benefits there because they're, they're moving forward and getting things done and.
[00:12:00] Speaker C: Absolutely. And, you know, this is a smaller project, but, you know, because those are massive, massive projects. And I think the Permian is going to need some massive projects. But for those who've worked out in Bakersfield, Right. The kind of oil and gas activity out in California, there's, you know, again, the volumes of water are much smaller, but they have. There's operators out there who've been doing similar type projects. Right. If you've eaten, you know, California almonds, like, there's a high likelihood those were grown with treated oil and gas wastewater. So kind of a. Kind of funny thing that not too many people thought about. So.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. Well, it needs to happen. It needs to get going. And I mean, I'm. That's why we want to connect, you know, our audience to, to the potential for produced water, encourage people, you know, if they've got the time and inclination, it would be a great thing for folks to show up at. And if we will put the date, time, information link to all of the Produce Water Society's information in the podcast and notes, show notes so that people can go. And then we'll put it out there on social so people can have a chance to.
To take a look at it and, and get caught up in and hopefully join us.
[00:13:14] Speaker C: Yeah, if you don't mind, I'd like to actually plug one last thing that we didn't talk about and this is something we are making public now. So it's kind of unofficial announcement. It may have been mentioned other places, but it's not something we've widely publicized until just the last day or two.
So as part of the event, we've partnered with some local ag producers, actually. So I don't know if you even knew this or if you've heard this yet, but. So we are setting up a tour on August 14th. So it would be affiliated with the Produce Water Society, but unfortunately, due to kind of liability restrictions, we're only allowed to have a limited number of guests on this tour. But some local ag producers have volunteered their facilities to have produced water folks. Right. Oil and gas, water technology folks come out to visit their facilities. And this is again, just part of our effort to collaborate across industries and get more interest in these things. So unfortunately, we are expecting typical attendance at this event. It's obviously several hundred people. We're going to have to severely limit, unfortunately, attendees of the tour for that reason. But please reach out to the Produce Water Society.
You know, I'm Michael m.
[email protected] or any of the Produce Water Society folks if you are interested in that tour. That will unfortunately be a very limited audience, but anybody interested, you know that that event will be happening to help further.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: Now, are these pro. Are these where you're talking about, these tours? These are our farmers were already using is treated water. Are these.
[00:14:44] Speaker C: No, they're not. Yes. So I should clarify that. Right? It is really just a learning opportunity. Right. Because for background noise. So you've been to our events before, right? You've heard, you know, over the last few years we've had people come up and talk about, hey, I think we can treat this water. This is the quality it hits. I think it could be of interest. Right. But how much have we actually really dug into the weeds with folks? And this was an opportunity that through some connections at actually Texas Tech, we were able to connect with these folks who are interested in doing it. And they said, hey, we love this water. Please bring us this water. And you Know, when I had questions like how does the water get stored at your facility? How much do you use when and where? Right. These were the folks who I kind of turned to and they've graciously opened up their facilities for, you know, folks in oil and gas who might know about oil and gas, might even know about water treatment, but don't necessarily know about agriculture.
[00:15:37] Speaker B: Right. So, well, and, and piggybacking on that, you know, we, we put up a blog post, several that to give some of those economics for oil and gas to be able to look at, you know, so that they can see, hey, here's what it, you know, typically what it's going to cost, you know, farmer to grow a certain amount of certain crop and here's the amount of water that they're going to use so that they can kind of get an idea of, you know, on, on the water side, what kind of, you know, volumes that you're talking about for what kind of crops.
[00:16:12] Speaker C: So I mean, there's a lot of.
[00:16:13] Speaker B: Knowledge that needs to be passed back and forth. So I'm super thankful that you guys are doing that and I already have in mind. I know a Jenner friend of mine reached out and said, hey, is oil and gas, like, are they working at all with ag? And I'm like, yeah, I'll come to find out. So it'd be great to, you know, have some folks like that there to, you know, really help leadership on the ag leadership side to move things forward.
[00:16:39] Speaker C: I appreciate, yeah, I appreciate you guys spreading the word about this event. As I said, it's traditionally had a very oil and gas heavy audience, obviously just by design, but we need voices like yours and your audiences to come participate in these events and help us understand.
[00:16:54] Speaker B: So appreciate that it's a great opportunity for farmers to connect with oil and gas folks and we're happy. Also we just recently, you know, put together a few locations here around the Lubbock area to start some projects. So, you know, it's ideas are there and maybe even, you know, we can follow up after, you know, sometime after harvest is over and have some kind of event in Lubbock for farmers too to come to, to kind of see what the potential might be.
[00:17:27] Speaker C: Yeah, I would definitely love to coordinate with you guys on that. That sounds like a great idea.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: Yep. Well, thank you so much, Michael Grossman. We appreciate you taking the time to visit with us and we will get this out to folks and, and we hope that there's a great turnout. There usually is.
[00:17:48] Speaker C: Well, thank you. Now we're excited about it and appreciate you helping spread the word. So thank you so much for having me.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, folks, thanks for joining me today for this little short podcast and update from the Produced Water Society. And I hope we can see you August 11th through 13th in Midland. And we're the 14th on farm.
Thank you.
[00:18:08] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:18:09] Speaker B: Thanks, Michael.
