Water Management:
PNM Initiatives

Using water efficiently

  • Water is used at most of PNM's power plants, including the San Juan Generating Station, for cooling systems and cleaning of equipment and facilities. San Juan has cooling towers that condense the steam used in the turbines back into water so it can be reused. Through a series of complex processes, water is reused, at least 10 times and as many as 50 to 100 times, before it evaporates.
  • Unit 3 at San Juan has a "hybrid" cooling tower ¿ one that can run in both wet and dry modes.
  • Installation of low-flow faucets and low-flush toilets at company office facilities in Albuquerque. All facilities have also been converted to Xeriscape landscaping with very minimal grass areas.

Exploring water conservation alternatives

  • Participation in the Zero Net Initiative, a partnership between Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Electric Power Research Institute and PNM. Zero Net's goal is to meet increasing electricity demand with a zero net increase in fresh water used for power plant cooling by 2010.
  • Received a $460,000 grant with EPRI to study the use of produced water ¿ high saline-concentration water from deep aquifers that is brought to the surface during oil and gas production ¿ for use at San Juan.
  • Participation in a study with Sandia National Laboratories, the Department of Energy and New Mexico Tech to quantify San Juan Basin water volumes, chemistry and alternative treatment strategies.
  • Participation in the 2003 San Juan Basin shortage sharing recommendations, an unprecedented example of tribal, governmental, agricultural and industrial water users in the Four Corners region working together to establish water priorities and address shortage issues without litigation and prior to a more serious situation occurring.

Meeting customer needs with minimal impact

  • PNM imports about 30 percent of its power from Palo Verde Generating Station in Tonopah, Ariz., the only nuclear energy facility in the world that uses treated sewage effluence for cooling water. The plant uses effluent water from the city of Phoenix, where it is treated in an 80-acre reservoir for use in the plant's cooling waters. More than 20 billion gallons of this water are recycled each year.
  • Development of renewable generation facilities, including the 200-megawatt New Mexico Wind Energy Center, which is scheduled to go online in 2003.
  • Continued research into development of other minimal water use generation such as photovoltaic, biomass and geothermal energy production.

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