MIDLAND - One local oil company is hoping to turn waste water into fracking water in the next couple of years.
The City of Midland is partnering with Pioneer Natural Resources to make it happen.
"We wanna reuse that waste water as opposed to just disposing of it," Holly Rosas, Interim Director of Utilities with the City of Midland, said.
That idea could likely be the future of the oilfield in Midland.
"We're gonna be able to produce a better quality of waste water that they can use for their fracking purposes," Rosas said.
In order to do this, the city's waste water treatment plant needs to get some upgrades.
On Tuesday, city council members voted to go forward in contract negotiations with Pioneer Natural Resources.
The company will pay for the upgrades in exchange for the treated waste water.
The price tag is $100 million.
"In a sense, we're actually being more conservative and looking forward to the conservation of our groundwater and re-using a commodity that we've had for a long time. We just haven't had the treatment to use," Rosas said.
Along with saving water, the deal will also cut back on added traffic.
"They're gonna put in a distribution system throughout Midland so that the water can be transported underground as opposed to having more trucks and traffic on the road," Rosas said.
The city can reap the benefits too.
"We will look at using that re-used water other places such as parks and other places in the city that have a need for it," Rosas said.
