Colorado River Municipal Water District, Texas, USA – First direct potable reuse system in the USA, operating since 2013
The Colorado River Municipal Water District serves an area of west Texas that has experienced a prolonged dry period extending over multiple decades. The District provides water to its member cities of Odessa, Big Spring, and Snyder, and to a number of other cities in the region, including Midland, San Angelo, and Abilene.
The District owns and operates three major surface water supplies on the Colorado River in west Texas: Lake J.B. Thomas, the E.V. Spence Reservoir, and the O.H. Ivie Reservoir. Together, the full combined capacity of these reservoirs is 414,000 gallons (or 1.5 million litres). Additionally, Colorado River Municipal Water District operates four wellfields for water supply.
Colorado River Municipal Water District began operating the first direct potable reuse system in the United States in 2013, and it has been operating ever since. The $14 million advanced treatment facility, called the John Grant Raw Water Facility, uses microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet disinfection to purify municipal effluent from the City of Big Spring wastewater treatment plant.
These technologies produce water that meets or exceeds all primary drinking water quality standards as well as the non-mandatory guidelines set for taste considerations. The process used to reclaim water is the same process used to desalinate or treat salty water. The Colorado River Municipal Water District Raw Water Production Facility produces about 1.5 million gallons (5.6 million litres) per day of additional water supply.
The purified water is then added to a raw water pipeline that also sources water from area lakes. The mix (50% purified recycled water, 50% raw water) is then distributed to five water treatment plants in the region (including the city of Big Spring), where it is treated again using conventional drinking water cleaning techniques.
The water is carefully monitored for safety levels by both the state and District. The plant’s treatment process has proven highly effective in removing contaminants, cleaning its water to drinking level quality. Colorado River Municipal Water District aims to explore further use of this promising treatment technology in other facilities to meet future water needs in West Texas.