Desalination of Brackish Water in the Southern Mesilla Valley: - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu

™

• J. Phillip King, PE, Ph.D.

Professor and Associate Department Head, Department of Civil Engineering October 18, 2018

Desalination of Brackish Water in the Southern Mesilla Valley: Preliminary Planning

The Lower Rio Grande Dilemma

• Persistent drought and a permanent shift to a more

arid climate;

• Highly interactive surface water and groundwater;
• Long-term water policy issues;
• Water is necessary for economic development.
• Litigation: Texas and US v. New Mexico on the Rio

Grande Project.

Desalination of Brackish Water

• US Bureau of Reclamation funding $400k + $478k cost

share (NMWRRI), Jan 2019 – Dec 2020

• Co-PIs: Dr. Pei Xu, Dr. Sam Fernald, Dr. KC Carroll
• Geohydrology: Dr. John Hawley, PG
• Consultant: Ed Archuleta, PE

Project Objectives:

• Assess potential for brackish water desalination in

the Santa Teresa area;

• Characterize source water and geohydrology,

treatment technologies, and disposal alternatives;

• Integrate with prior and ongoing planning efforts;
• Explore binational potential for water supply to San

Jeronimo in Mexico;

• Produce a Preliminary Engineering report and plan

path forward.

LPOE

Monument

The Santa Teresa/San Jeronimo Border Region

Santa Teresa San Jeronimo EBID, based on Hawley

Mesill silla Basin in- Subba ubbasin Area ea with h thick ick zones s of satur urat ated ed Santa a Fe Group

• up Basin

n Fill (blues ues). Rio Grande ande Valley floo

• or (da

dark bl blue) ue) Haw awley ey et et al al., 2018 2018

Interlinked Hydro-geologic Basins and Subbasins of the Mesilla Basin Region

Rincon

• n (beige)

ge), Souther hern n Jornada nada (light ht green) een), Cedar ar- Corral alitos

• s (gr

green) een), Tular aros

• sa

a (brow

• wn)

n), Hueco

• (light

ght brown) n), Malpai pais (pur urpl ple) e), El Parabi abien en (viol

• let

et), Bedr edrock Highl ghlan ands (tan) an), and Int nter er-bas basin Under erflow

• w Corridor

dors (lig light blu lue)

Mesilla Basin Trans- Boundar y Sector

X-Section Base: MSL; Vertical Exaggeration: 5x Haw awley ey et et al al., 2018 2018

Haw awley ey et et al al., 2018 2018

What’s Next?

• Stakeholders meeting, project implementation;
• Pilot testing, demonstration of concept
• Student Capstone treatment plant design projects
• Explore binational potential: USIBWC, Mexican

partners

• Note to self: Get quarterly report to Cathy

Reference: Hawley, J.W., B.H. Swanson, J.S. Walker, S.H. Glaze, 2018. Hydrologic Framework of the Mesilla Basin Region of New Mexico, Texas, and Chihuahua (Mexico) – Advances in Conceptual and Digital Model Development. NM Water Resources Research Institute Technical Completion Report 363. Publication pending.