El Paso leading nation in water conservation tactics

Wastewater reclamation may sound scary to some people, but El Paso Water Utilities Vice President of Operations John Balliew said it’s the wave of the future.

The Fred Hervey Water Reclamation Plant has been cleaning and treating wastewater since 1985. The plant just went through a major expansion phase and can treat 12 million gallons of wastewater each day.

The difference between the Fred Harvey plant and other local wastewater plants is that it’s capable of taking the water all the way to a potable, or drinkable, form.

"As people are becoming more aware of the preciousness of water and the limited resource that it is, the idea of taking wastewater and reclaiming it for drinking water is becoming more popular and more acceptable," Balliew said.

Balliew said major cities around the country and even worldwide are looking into the system EPWU is using as a model.

"I think the tide has turned in public opinion that it's more acceptable these days to be talking about it," Balliew said.

The benefit for El Paso is that the city will be almost drought-proof. While some of the reclaimed water is used to irrigate wetlands and assist cooling systems for the electric company, much of it is put into the aquifers as a reserve supply.

El Paso has been using that supply a lot over the past two years since the city has been in a major drought.

Balliew said that, nationally, the conversations about water recycling have gone in the direction of reclaiming the water and putting it directly into homes, skipping the aquifer storage altogether.

"Here in El Paso, I don't think it will ever come to that point,” Balliew said. “But us putting it back into the aquifer and then drawing it out later is very efficient."

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