Las Cruces Sun News

State, NMSU working on dairy wastewater problem
By Diana M. Alba Sun-News reporter

LAS CRUCES — State environment department Secretary Ron Curry was here Thursday to hear updates about technology that could eventually help the dairy industry deal with problematic wastewater.

Curry met at New Mexico State University with state agriculture and finance officials and the Las Cruces-based nonprofit group developing the technology with the university, PublicUs.

Curry said the technology would be beneficial because it would protect groundwater supplies.

"There are about 200 dairies in the state, so we're looking at some technology that hopefully, if it proves out, will make things cleaner at a dairy operation," he said during an interview after the closed-door meeting.

Curry said he couldn't talk about details of the technology because it's still in the development stages.

Robert O. Marquez, an affiliated faculty professor at NMSU and CEO of PublicUs, said the goal of the project is to remove nitrates and other substances in dairy wastewater and increase the amount of reclaimed water.

We're attempting to "reduce a lot of what we call the nutrient loading in the water, so they can use it directly for field application," he said. "(Dairies) don't have to dilute it or do other things to it afterward."

Marquez said his group is working on the technology development because it wants to improve quality of life for low-income communities. He said it's part of a "social entreprenuership" project. It's a new trend in technology development, in which projects aimed at helping low-income residents end up having broader applications.

"Usually technology flows from high tech to industry and eventually makes it into economically disadvantaged communities," he said. "This is an example of something that was developed for an economically disadvantaged community and it's going in the opposite direction."

Dairies generate wastewater while cleaning off cows before milking. The water is then disposed of by evaporation or by application to crops.

The environment department has required 12 dairies in southern Doña Ana County to submit a cleanup plan for past groundwater contamination that stemmed from their operations. High nitrate levels have been found in the groundwater.