In New Mexico, water is precious — which is why the notion of drilling for natural gas through the process known as fracking angers so many. Here's why. Fracking involves the hydraulic fracturing of the rock that contains natural gas deposits. At issue is whether the chemicals in the fluids used to split the rock will migrate and pollute nearby water sources.

The oil and gas business, of course, sees the issue differently. Fracking enables operators to reach gas that otherwise would be too expensive to extract. Without fracking, for example, drilling shale natural gas is unprofitable. With fracking, drilling has increased dramatically — leading, we might add, to lower prices for consumers and increased revenues for states and counties around the nation. As always, the needs of industry and the environment must be balanced.

Now, with even more fracking taking place, the industry and the process are undergoing increased scrutiny — especially since residents of some communities near fracking sites are starting to find smelly and chemical-laden water. Recently, Environmental Protection Agency scientists found a telling link between groundwater pollution and hydraulic fracturing in Wyoming. Groundwater beneath Pavillion, Wyo., was contaminated with chemicals found in fracking — exactly what opponents fear is happening on a wider scale.

Before fracking takes greater hold, it is essential that New Mexico join other states in regulating the process more closely. Rather than letting the oil and gas companies hide the ingredients in fracking fluid, transparency and disclosure need to occur. Other safeguards, in how wells are built and lined, need to remain. Colorado's new disclosure rules, which take place in April, should serve as a model. Requiring the most information of any state in the nation, their rules demand that companies disclose the concentration of chemicals being used. Impressively, the decision by Colorado regulators earlier this month was unanimous.

Contrast that to New Mexico, where the New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission approved some of the weakest disclosure rules in the nation. Companies would disclose — generally — the contents of fracking fluids, but only after the damage, er, the drilling is done. At present, drillers wouldn't have to lay out concentrations and other specifics — they are "trade secrets," after all. The disclosure is little more than reporting the chemicals that might be deemed federal workplace hazards under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. New Mexico's proposed rules, with the final order to come in January, are weaker even than new regulations adopted in Texas.

It doesn't help, of course, that fracking fluids were exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act by the Bush administration and Congress. The idea was that fracking did not pose a threat to groundwater. Without clear national guidelines, each state's requirements are that much more important, making New Mexico's lax proposal even more ridiculous. For that reason, it's good to see our counties getting in on the game, with rural Mora County the latest to discuss a possible ban on fracking, or barring that, at least a drilling moratorium. Mora would be joining Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and San Miguel counties in such action should commissioners decide on either step in January.

With a state regulatory system seemingly determined to serve the needs of industry rather than the people of this state, it's essential for counties and local governments to form a wall to protect water supplies across New Mexico. We are not saying that hydraulic fracturing has to go; as industry officials point out, it's been used for decades. The toxic chemicals being used today, though, offer special risks. Until we know more about how fracking can impact water supplies, the regulators assigned to protect the people of this state should, at the least, require more information about the chemicals being pumped into the ground.

Water is irreplaceable. As for the natural gas, it's not going anywhere. Rather than rush to pull out every last drop, New Mexico would be better off safeguarding our water before drilling starts, not after.