From the morning paper, the fruits of a trip to Farmington, in northwest New Mexico, for a legislative hearing on water. Among the items on the agenda, water use in oil and gas production:

The problem, according to Egolf and others, is that the state lacks comprehensive data on how much water is being used now in hydraulic fracturing operations, how it has increased in recent years, and how it might rise as operations expand. That question is especially pertinent in the San Juan Basin, which oil and gas experts say could be on the verge of a major increase in hydraulic fracturing operations.