"El Paso Water broke ground on the first U.S. facility that will treat wastewater for direct re-use in a city water supply, using a four-step process to transform wastewater into clean, potable drinking water."
"EL PASO — This desert city gets less than nine inches of rain a year and experienced the two hottest years in its recorded history in 2023 and 2024.
But El Paso Water started planning decades ago for this hotter, drier climate. On Thursday the utility broke ground on its latest project to secure water for the city of 700,000: an advanced water purification facility that will deliver 10 million gallons per day of purified water from the city’s wastewater stream directly into its drinking water supply.
El Paso’s Pure Water Center, which will go online by 2028, is the first direct-to-distribution reuse facility in the country. Treating wastewater for reuse as drinking water has long been controversial. But as the technology has advanced and water resources dwindle, more cities are exploring direct reuse."
Martha Pskowski reports for Inside Climate News March 3, 2025.
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