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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR:	Griego		DATE TYPED:	2/25/03		HB
SHORT TITLE:		Integrate Desalinization into Water Plans				SB	SJM 71
					ANALYST:		Chabot

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained		Estimated Additional Impact		Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
FY03	FY04	FY03	FY04
	NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to SB 195 and HB 260 on water planning.

Relates to a special appropriation in the 2002 General Appropriation Act of $500.0 for statewide water planning.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Interstate Stream Commission (ISC)

New Mexico Environment Department (NMED)

Office of the State Engineer (OSE)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Joint Memorial 71 resolves ISC be requested to integrate the use of desalination into its state water plans and to look for avenues to reduce or remove impediments to the development of brackish water treatment facilities. Private entities such as the New Mexico Water Resources Institute and the New Mexico Waste-management Education and Research Consortium are requested to place a high priority on brackish water in helping communities meet their needs.

Significant Issues

New Mexico has significant resources of brackish water that have been too expensive to develop. Technology continues improve resulting in reduced costs. The City of El Paso is investing in a plant to process brackish water for drinking water in conjunction with the U.S. Army. At full capacity, they expect costs to be in the $0.25 to $0.50 per gallon. The City of Alamogordo and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation have conducted pilot studies in the Tularosa Basin on treating brackish water to drinking water standards.

ISC analysis is “treatment of saline water is technically feasible, however, depending on the depth to water and the degree of saline content, capital and energy costs associated with desalinization of brackish or saline water can be significant and disposal of the waste stream is an environmental concern. Specific feasibility studies are required to determine the location and depth of saline and brackish water in the state.”

NMED has similar comments.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The names of the entities listed on page 3, lines 6-7 are the Water Resources Research Institute at New Mexico State University and the Waste-management Education and Research Consortium at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

Recommend that on page 3, line 5 strike “private”, on page 3, line 6 after the word “resources” insert “research” and on page 3, line 7 after the word “management” insert “education”.

GAC/yr