Texas Uses Purified Wastewater in Drinking System

Texas uses purified wastewater in drinking system. - AquaTech Newsletter

Friday, 28 February 2025 - EPWater, located in El Paso, Texas is spending close to €282 million on an Advanced Water Purification Facility that will transform treated effluent from wastewater plant into fresh drinking water.

From facility to distribution system

The water reuse facility will be the first in the state of Texas that will send the treated water straight into the water distribution system. The utility states that it will be the most sophisticated development in water reuse anywhere in the USA.

Located in the Chihuahuan Desert, EPWater draws upon a combination of river water when available, fresh groundwater and desalinated groundwater. The facility will purify water that already has undergone an extensive treatment process at the nearby Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant in El Paso's Mission Valley. The plant will produce up to 10 million gallons per day of water to supplement the city's drinking water supplies.

Gilbert Trejo, vice president of Operations and Technical Services at EPWater, told local media: "This facility will be a game changer for El Paso and other arid communities across the globe facing drought challenges. The engineering and water community know and understand that these treatment processes produce a very high-quality water."

What is purified water?

Purified water is simply water that has been cleaned to a high standard using advanced waste and filtration processes. The purified water is normally reused in industrial and agricultural applications, but the technology has advanced far enough for it to be used for human consumption.

Where the Advanced Water Purification Facility differs from other potable reuse plants in the USA is that rather than be returned to treatment plants or blended with other water sources, EPWater plans a direct-to-distribution approach, with the purified water being sent directly to the city's drinking water distribution system.

 Five steps to purified drinking water

The facility will use a five-step process to clean and purify the water it receives from the local wastewater treatment plant:

• Step 1: Membrane filtration serves as the primary barrier for particles and microorganisms

• Step 2: Reverse osmosis removes salt and organic chemicals. It provides an additional barrier against microorganisms

• Step 3: Advanced oxidation, with ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide, serves as the third barrier that destroys any remaining organic chemicals

• Step 4: Granular activated carbon eliminates excess hydrogen peroxide and trace chemicals

• Step 5: Chlorine disinfection is the final barrier, ensuring clean water while it reaches home and business taps.

 Reclaimed water in El Paso

The need for new and sustainable water sources for El Paso increases as the city's population increases and as climate change affects upstream sources. EPWater's water strategy sees purified water as a sustainable, drought-proof resource, which will grow in volume as the city's population grows ─ more people, more waste, more purified water. Not all reclaimed water will be used for the drinking system, however, with the city under obligation to return some water to the river system under the Clean Water Act.

The use of 'reclaimed water' in El Paso goes back to 1963, although it was in the 1940s that treated wastewater was first returned to the Rio Grande. The latest facility was given approval by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality following a pilot that began in 2016. The pilot facility was located at the Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant and used a four-stage process purify cleaned wastewater.

Water from the facility was tested and analysed at state-certified laboratories. Thousands of samples confirmed that the purified water met and at times bettered all primary and secondary drinking water standards.

Trejo added: "What we are doing here in El Paso is going to change the water industry." – Aqua Tech Newsletter