Oil Boom in Southern New Mexico Ignites Groundwater Feud With Texas

Water Deeply: In the vast, high desert of southeastern New Mexico, underground aquifers are a vital source of water for drinking and agriculture. Groundwater has also become essential to a booming oil business, which is sprawling across the border from Texas and needs the water for hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) operations.

Oil well fracking requires large amounts of water, which is injected underground to break up and mobilize the underground petroleum resource. In many parts of this region, without water for fracking, there is no access to oil.

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