El Paso Water broke ground on a $295 million water reuse facility in El Paso, Texas, on Feb. 27, according to a news release from Carollo Engineers. The facility will treat wastewater for direct reuse and provide the community with a sustainable drinking water supply.
The Pure Water Center is the country’s first direct-to-distribution water reuse facility, and more cities like Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, are likely to follow suit as purification technology advances and water resources dwindle, according to Inside Climate News.
Tempe, Arizona-based Sundt and Edmonton, Alberta’s PCL, with U.S. headquarters in Denver, are partnering to build the project for municipal utility El Paso Water. Walnut Creek, California-based Carollo Engineers designed the facility.
Previously called the Advanced Water Purification Facility, the Pure Water Center will produce an additional 10 million gallons of drinking water a day to El Paso residents, per the release.
"After years of planning, design and thousands of water-quality tests, we are excited to begin construction on the Pure Water Center,” El Paso Water President and CEO John Balliew said in the release. "This is the next step in El Paso's long history of water reuse, and we hope it will serve as a model for other communities facing water-related challenges."
The Roberto Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant will provide treated water for the facility, per the release. The treated water will then undergo a multi-step purification process — including membrane filtration, reverse osmosis, UV light with advanced oxidation, granular activated carbon filtration and chlorine disinfection — in order to surpass drinking water quality standards.
El Paso Water worked with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for more than a decade to ensure that the water produced at the facility will meet state and federal requirements for safe drinking water, according to the release. TCEQ granted final design approval in late 2024, allowing construction to move forward.
The project is expected to be complete by 2028.
