Texas farmers and environmentalists worry that a new law allowing fracking wastewater reuse could threaten land and water safety.
JOHNSON COUNTY, Texas — For Texas farmers and ranchers, clean land and water aren’t luxuries — they’re lifelines. But a new state law has farmers and environmental advocates raising serious concerns.
Governor Greg Abbott has signed a law that allows oil and gas companies to treat and sell fracking wastewater — also known as produced water — for reuse. That could include discharging it into rivers and streams or even applying it on farmland for crop irrigation.
The move comes as the state faces a growing water shortage due to population growth, aging infrastructure, and prolonged drought conditions. Supporters say the law is a way to supplement water supplies and promote recycling. Critics say it could contaminate the very land Texans depend on for food and survival.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller believes the concept has potential — if it’s done right.
“Well, we need water,” Miller said. “We don’t really care what the source is as long as it’s good, clean water that we can grow crops with. Fracking water would be fine.”
Miller said the goal won’t be just to treat the water, but to fully remove harmful substances like heavy metals to ensure it’s clean and safe. He added that there are methods to achieve that, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality would be responsible for regulating the process.
“As long as this water meets those strict guidelines, I don’t have a problem with it,” Miller added. “We need the water, whatever source we can get it from.”
The agriculture commissioner also suggested that the most logical use for treated produced water may not be on crops at all.
“I would suggest, probably, a better use of it would be fracking. Let this oil industry reuse it,” Miller said. “They use millions and millions of gallons in fracking, and we certainly don’t need the deep injection wells. Those are proven to cause earthquakes, so we need to do something different with it.”
Miller said technological advancements are bringing the state closer to being able to fully clean and reuse produced water.
“Well, I think we’re pretty close,” the commissioner said. “I don’t know that we’re all the way there yet, but with the technology and AI and everything that we’ve got available to us now, we’re in the technology age, so it’s certainly doable and it’s, you know, probably doable pretty quick, I would think.”
He also applauded industry progress in shifting away from fresh water for fracking.
Miller pointed to the oil and gas industry as a positive example, noting that companies are increasingly using brackish water for fracking instead of relying on fresh water. He said about 30% of their operations now use treated brackish water, and praised the shift toward more sustainable practices.
Still, he emphasized the importance of strict oversight.
“Well, it’s the standards that it’s judged by,” Miller said. “Obviously, there’s gonna have to be very rigorous, strict guidelines implemented and oversight from the TCEQ. As long as those companies meet all the guidelines that we set out before them and those guidelines are accurate and adequate, I don’t see a problem with it.”
And on the legal protections provided under the new law?
“I think those companies should have some liability protection if they’re doing business in the correct way,” Miller said.
But in Johnson County, where farmers are already fighting toxic sewage-based fertilizer biosolids, there’s outrage that lawmakers gave fracking wastewater the green light, despite it containing many of the same carcinogenic chemicals.
“There was another bill that was put forth that would allow fracking water to be land applied… they’re going to… treat it. And then it’s gonna be safe for land application,” said Dana Ames, a Johnson County landowner and advocate. “Contaminated with all kinds of chemicals. From oil and gas fracking — we don’t even know all the chemicals because they’re proprietary.”
She questions how the state plans to regulate PFAS — also known as “forever chemicals” — in fracking water, when it hasn’t been able to do so in biosolids.
“TCEQ is also the permitting authority for biosolids, and they say that they’re not able to regulate PFOs in the biosolids. So how are they going to regulate PFOS and fracking?” she asked. “There would be number one, no criminal charge that could be brought. There would be no civil case that could be brought. And that is very, very wrong.”
She believes recycling produced water for oil and gas use makes more sense than spreading it on farmland or dumping it in waterways.
House Bill 49 shields oil producers, landowners, and treatment facilities from legal liability if treated water causes harm, unless there is gross negligence or criminal behavior.
Critics like Ames say that leaves Texans exposed and voiceless.