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While the American Southwest experiences the worst mega-drought in 1,200 years, oil and gas companies in Texas are using billions of gallons of water annually from the Rio Grande and Pecos Rivers for their operations.
Inside Climate News obtained Rio Grande water data through a public information request from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and found that drillers used more than ten billion gallons for drilling and fracking operations between 2021 and 2024. More than four billion gallons of Pecos River water have been used for oil and gas operations since 2016. Pumping water underground to drill or frack a well often permanently removes it from the natural hydrologic cycle, given the presence of chemical fracking fluids and natural toxins like arsenic following its use in the extraction process for oil or gas.
Flows have decreased on the Rio Grande by more than 30 percent in recent decades. The river is the sole source of drinking water for the city of Laredo, where because of the ongoing drought, city officials have asked residents to reduce their water use for several years. City planners are considering costly alternative water sources to prepare for the day when the Rio Grande won’t be enough to supply the city, projected to come around 2040. The analysis by Inside Climate News shows that Kingsley Water Company, an oil field water services firm based near Houston, has sold enough water from the Rio Grande and the Pecos River for drilling to meet the needs of more than 100,000 Texas households for a year.
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Most federal land management plans are drafted and implemented by Utah-based officials—our friends, neighbors, and fellow taxpayers—not imposed upon us by people who have never set foot in our state.”
