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evaporates, or may be used to water cattle. -Atomization: water evaporates more quickly than normal through the use of misters placed in surface impoundments. -Shallow injection or aquifer recharge: water is pumped into freshwater aquifers. -Deep injection: salty water is typically reinjected deep into the ground. 6 The quality of produced water varies considerably across and even within basins, depending on the depth of the methane, geology, and environment of the deposition. In general, the deeper the coalbed, the less the volume of water in the frac- tures, but the more saline it becomes. Landowner concerns In general, water quality is highest in the Southeast, and diminishes to the West and North, where total dissolved solids increase. A major challenge in a semi -arid landscape is managing the tremendous increase in produced water. Even if water quality is high, salts may concentrate during evaporation or may overwhelm the semi -arid environment, inundating veg- etation and causing erosion. Stock reservoirs have been cre- ated, and while some ranchers have wanted the water source, others do not since the reservoirs take land out of production. Ranchers are faced with soils damaged by the salts and metals remaining after evaporation; less grass is available for cattle; clay soils become hard pan; and dead cottonwood trees, dead grass, and weeds result from CBM development. 8 In some areas where water quality is good, CBM companies and landowners have negotiated agreements to provide pro- duced water for stock. Company officials report that there is more demand for water than they can supply. Produced water in the Powder River and Raton Basins has contributed to mu- nicipal water supplies. Such examples are evidence that CBM development can occur in partnership with landowners in ways that profit both. But conflicts frequently arise between land owners, especially when they do not own the gas leases under their property. Transporting water from where it is produced to where it can be used may be expensive in many cases, and that is a significant limit to efforts to ensure beneficial use of the produced water. Water quality regulation 9 Under the Clean Water Act, CBM development is governed by water quality standards to protect designated uses of water such as drinking water, agriculture, or fisheries. 10 Standards include pollution limits to protect state water quality standards, anti - degradation requirements beyond water quality standards, and total maximum daily loads — maximum daily pollutant discharges that are assigned to point and non -point sources to ensure total pollution levels are not exceeded. The standards consist of numeric pollution limits as well as narrative or de- scriptive standards that are typically applied to each category Of use. If a body of water has more than one designated use, the more stringent standard applies. 11 Section 401 of the Clean Water Act requires CBM compa- nies to apply for and receive a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit if they are discharging produced water into surface waters of the state. If technology -based limitations are insufficient to ensure water quality standards are met, states must develop "total maximum daily loads" (TMDLs) for each pollutant for which standards are being violated. 12 The TMDL determines the maximum amount of the pollutant that the water body can receive daily; states apportion the total load point and non -point sources. Once the TMDL is fully allocated, no further discharges of pollutants into the water body are allowed. The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) governs reinjection of water produced from CBM extraction. 13 No underground in- jection is allowed without a permit. With CBM, most reinjec- tion is done into Class II wells that address fluids that are either brought to the surface in connection with oil and gas develop- ment or are used to enhance the recovery of oil and gas. 14 State water law governing CBM produced water Given the importance of clean water in the and West, no environmental issue has been more contentious or critical to the future of CBM development than that of the impacts on local water. One of the most important challenges surrounding CBM development is finding beneficial uses for the produced water. Given the aridity of the West, the region's water is at least as valuable as its natural gas. Water law is tremendously impor- tant in shaping water use, but the legal framework surround- ing the use of CBM - produced water is not well developed. All states require that appropriated water be put to beneficial use, but the assumption underlying each state's regulation of water produced from CBM development is that it is waste and that state oil and gas commissions have jurisdiction over the produced water. While this may have made sense when the produced water was largely the brine resulting from conven- tional deep oil and gas drilling, it does not make sense for CBM water. Many of these statutes were passed in Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana and Wyoming in the 1950s and early 1960s, when the produced water was highly polluted. CBM production did not start until the late 1980's, with the real boom occurring in the mid- 1990s. The Rocky Mountain states have all adopted the prior -ap- propriation approach to water law. Under prior appropriation, ownership of land does not result in ownership of water, but water rights are created when water is diverted and used or ap- propriated for a beneficial purpose. Addressing CBM challenges Given the lack of water in the Rocky Mountain West, it is important to explore whether the existing water management uses are optimal. Companies and landowners may find op-