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River water season has officially dried up for the year, kicking off the beginning of maintenance at El Paso Water’s two river water treatment plants.

The to-do list is a long one for employees at the Robertson/Umbenhauer – aka the Canal Plant – and the Jonathan Rogers water treatment plants. Draining and cleaning sand-choked basins, desilting, along with equipment inspections is the order of the season that begins once flows from the Elephant Butte Reservoir end.

“Maintenance is a vital part of the operation,” said Mike Parker, superintendent at the Rogers Plant. “This transition period keeps the employee engaged, and I truly believe that if employees know the reasons why we do maintenance, it makes them eager to do their best.”

According to Angel Bustamante, Water Systems Division Manager, EP Water crews take a proactive approach to the upkeep of plant.

“The utility really strives to make sure that we don’t just react to maintenance, we plan for it,” Bustamante said. “We don’t want to be caught in a bind when something goes wrong. We like redundancy.”

The season also signals the beginning of Capital Improvement Program projects, which have been carefully planned over the summer.

“These projects typically occur in the maintenance season because we can’t shut off the plant once we receive river water,” Bustamante said. “We schedule the work so contractors can do it during the non-irrigation season.”

Current projects include an update of ozone generators at the Rogers Plant, as well as a replacement of climber screens, structural improvements and an update of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system at the Canal Plant, Bustamante said.

The plants still field plenty of tour requests from area engineering students, even during maintenance season.

“When basins are drained, you get a better idea of what mechanics are involved,” Bustamante said. “We welcome the public to tour our plants. I recommend they come when there is river water and when there isn’t, so they can get a perspective from both sides.”

For communities where rivers flow all year, plants don’t have the opportunity to shut down for maintenance.

“It’s fascinating that no other system actually shuts down,” Parker said. “At El Paso Water, we suspend our river water plants and start them back up like it’s a walk in the park. But that’s a big, complex thing to do, and we do it every year.”

At the September Public Service Board meeting, EPWater detailed its latest innovation to provide load-shifting capability that enables certain wastewater streams to shift from one treatment plant to another.

The Haskell Wastewater Plant treats wastewater to reclaimed water standards, and the Fred Hervey Water Reclamation Plant treats wastewater to drinking water standards.

The new project will give the utility increased flexibility in meeting water reuse demand needs in different parts of the city.

“We will construct a new pipeline that will allow us to divert flows between the Haskell Plant in south-central El Paso and the Fred Hervey Plant in northeast El Paso,” said Alan Shubert, Vice President for Operations and Technical Services. “If we have increased demand for reclaimed water in the northeast for irrigation and industrial purposes, we will be able to do that. Plus, we can use the additional treated water to recharge the Hueco Bolson aquifer.”

The same can be said if more reclaimed water is needed in south-central El Paso. Wastewater from the northeast will be diverted to meet those increased demands. The project will use existing lift stations, which will receive some plumbing revisions and upgrades for the diversion project.

Gilbert Trejo, Chief Technical Officer for EPWater, says this project is another wave into the future.

“We need to always look at the water resources we have now and maximize the ways we use them to provide water for El Pasoans,” Trejo said. “It gives us more flexibility to manage our water in different parts of the city.”

The project will cost approximately $3.3 million, but a quarter of that will be funded by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation through a grant program that funds water reclamation and reuse projects.

“This is a cutting edge project that few utilities are doing in other parts of the country” Trejo said. “So when the Bureau sees us, yet again, on the forefront of how we augment our water reuse supplies, they were enthusiastic.”

The project is scheduled to begin November 2019 and be completed winter 2020.

Annual releases from Elephant Butte Reservoir into the Rio Grande are a large part of our water supply, and the length of the season is dictated by the amount of seasonal snowmelt runoff received.

When the Rio Grande stopped flowing last fall, employees of the Jonathan Rogers Water Treatment Plant took advantage to do some major work to the four Archimedes screw pumps at the facility. Archimedean screw pumps? As in, Archimedes, the famous Greek inventor, engineer and physicist?

The screw pumps are indeed named for Archimedes, but there are accounts that date the technology back 1,000 years BC.

According to Greek historian Strabo, these Archimedean screws were used to irrigate the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. And now, 3,000 years later, El Paso Water uses them to move water at both the Jonathan Rogers Plant and the Fred Hervey Water Reclamation Plant.

According to Warren Marquette, Capital Projects Manager, each screw pump can move 22 million gallons of water per day from the Rio Grande up to the five settling ponds that supply the Jonathan Rogers plant.

“Each pump is 90” diameter, has two screws per shaft and is inclined at 38 degrees,” he said. “It is driven by a 125 horsepower motor and rotates at roughly 30 RPM. By far, these pumps deliver some of the highest volume of water for the power required to operate them.”

The maintenance, upkeep and recoating of these pumps during the months the Rio Grande is not flowing ensures maximum movement of water when it is released in spring and summer months.

“We replace the bearings on one of the screw pumps each season,” Marquette said. “The original gearboxes have all been replaced over the past three years. And there are plans to replace all four pumps and the entire lube system. The first one is on the way and should arrive in October.”

Although the Archimedes screws no longer provide water to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, they will continue to provide safe, reliable water to El Pasoans for decades to come.

In 1985, the leadership of El Paso Water knew that residents of El Paso would have to significantly reduce their daily water use for the sake of long-term water sustainability.

At the time, each El Pasoan was using 205 gallons per person per day.

The City of El Paso adopted the Water Conservation Ordinance in 1991, which made wasting water a violation.

Over the years, the utility has provided a variety of conservation incentive programs, and residents took advantage of rebates for water efficient toilets, low-flow showerheads, and replacing grass turf with low-water use landscaping. Plumbing codes also were changed to ensure new homes integrated water efficient fixtures.

El Pasoans limited their watering to three days of the week and began watering before 10 a.m. and after 6 p.m. in the hottest months of the year.

Today, residents are using 128 gallons per person per day and have reduced total water consumption even though population is larger.

To achieve continued reductions, EPWater seeks to reduce water consumption among commercial and institutional customers. Work is already underway with targeted sectors, including restaurants, municipal buildings, and apartment complexes, to name a few.

“Residential customers have truly changed the culture of water usage and have brought us this far in our conservation efforts,” said Anai Padilla, Water Conservation Manager. “But the next logical step is to work with our commercial and institutional customers.”

Targeted approach

EPWater conducted an independent study of commercial and institutional customers to understand water consumption patterns and prioritize sectors for water efficiency improvements.

As an example, the study showed that schools and government buildings make up 8% of EPWater institutional accounts but use 19% of water.

As a result, the Certified Water Partner Program was born. Hundreds of local restaurants were invited to participate in a free water efficiency audit to help them reduce consumption.

The program was launched in 2017 and now has 44 certified restaurants.

“To qualify to be a Certified Water Partner, a restaurant must demonstrate best practices in their kitchen equipment and appliances, in their restroom faucets and toilets, any applicable landscaping and washing machine or laundry service,” said Dawn Walker-Hughes, Water Conservation Technician. “Plus they must also meet responsible practices in fats/grease disposal that protect our wastewater systems.”

Moving forward

The next priority for improved water efficiency was City of El Paso buildings. Over the last year, more than 50 city facilities received water audits. The zoo, four libraries, six police facilities and 24 fire facilities met the standard.

Because many older libraries and police buildings did not meet best standards for water efficiency, EPWater developed an agreement to provide the City of El Paso with a $25,000 grant to assist them in adjusting, repairing or replacing inefficient plumbing fixtures identified in the audit.

“This grant money will allow the city to improve water efficiency where it’s needed,” said Lisa Rosendorf, Chief Communications and Government Affairs Officer. “This will help them save water and money for the city.”

Over the next year, EPWater will continue auditing City buildings, including recreation centers, Sun Metro facilities, the airport and more.

The water savings achieved through this program will help El Paso meet its conservation goals for the future. Click here for more information.

Nearly three decades ago, the area’s aquifers were being pumped heavily to meet growing demands, and El Paso Water learned from several engineering studies that El Paso was at risk of running out of water by 2030 unless major changes were made.

The utility began an aggressive conservation program to reduce water consumption, expanded water recycling and constructed a new water plant to increase the use of river water.

The then-new plant added 40 million gallons of treated river water to the system and helped reduce the strain on underground sources. It was named in honor of  four-time El Paso mayor and U.S. Army Veteran 1st Lt. Jonathan Rogers.

“As the population grows, so has the demand for water,” said Water Plant Superintendent Mike Parker. “This plant has been there to offset some of those demands, and it will continue to do so.”

In 2002, the plant was expanded to produce 60 MGD, further preserving underground supplies for future use.

As El Paso Water celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Jonathan Rogers plant, officials say the facility is an example of “how each plant not only serves the community, but also helps to protect other valuable water resources.”

In order to treat river water, the state-of-the-art facility was designed with granular activated carbon filtration and an ozone disinfection system.

The Jonathan Rogers plant was a pioneer on the frontier of the developing ozone technology, which is now known for being highly effective in removing bacteria and assuring the quality and safety of drinking water.

“The equipment and technology used to produce ozone at the plant is one of the greatest features of the plant,” said Frank Regalado, Water Plant Assistant Superintendent.

Currently, the plant is in the process of replacing the system for the latest model in a $17 million project upgrade scheduled for completion in 2019.

“I look forward to the new streamlined system and its increased efficiency in disinfection,” said Regalado.

Since 1993, the Jonathan Rogers plant has been transforming river water into drinking water, and it holds a special place in the hearts of many who work at the plant. Parker remembers the excitement of his first day at the plant. “It was new, it was innovative for the utility, and the excitement was in the air.”

Several employees of the plant have been there from the beginning and take pride in the facility.

“I’m proud to teach the newest of our employees the technology that we use at the Jonathan Rogers plant to be able to deliver high quality water to our community,” said Regalado.

Leaders from El Paso Water, Project Amistad and the City of El Paso gathered Thursday to announce a new customer assistance program called AguaCares.

The program officially launches January 2 and will focus on helping elderly, low-income customers who struggle to pay their water and wastewater bills.

Many customers are struggling to meet basic needs. Every month, EPWater is forced to disconnect thousands of customers for non-payment. In 2017, more than 15,000 customers were disconnected at least once; more than 5,000 customers were disconnected more than once; and more than 500 were disconnected four or more times.

EPWater partnered with Project Amistad to formalize the AguaCares program, which will help keep services on for customers who qualify.

“We strive to provide reliable, high-quality water services to all El Pasoans,” CEO and President John Balliew said. “The AguaCares program will be a valuable tool we can deploy to help our customers in need.”

The El Paso City Council on Tuesday approved action to contribute seed money in the amount of $50,000 to help launch the program.

“The seed money is part of a Memorandum of Understanding agreement with El Paso Water, which supports some of our most vulnerable members of our population to maintain a basic need,” Mayor Dee Margo said. “This is a wonderful partnership, and I encourage the community to support this much-needed program.”

Under a contract agreement between EPWater and Project Amistad, EPWater will refer customers in need to Project Amistad. The agency will determine qualification and offer services to include money management counseling, conservation support, payment plan arrangements and emergency payment assistance.

“Here at Amistad, we want to help EPWater customers who are underserved and are on the verge of being disconnected from water services,“ said Andrea Ramirez, Project Amistad Chief Operating Officer of Social Services. “We are asking the community to assist us by donating and raising funds to maintain support for AguaCares.”

Currently, the program is in a developmental stage and is in critical need of donations. Officials are asking El Pasoans to remember Project Amistad on El Paso Giving Day – November 15. Donations to Project Amistad will be directed toward the AguaCares program.

“Our region’s only community-wide day of charitable giving is held annually on November 15, and donations as small as $10 are accepted,” said Paso del Norte Foundation Director of Development Anna Aleman. “Since its inception in 2016, El Paso Giving Day has raised more than $300,000 for 165 non-profit organizations in our city.”

Additional fundraisers will be held in the coming months to continue to build up the program.

To donate to AguaCares on El Paso Giving Day (November 15), follow this link. To give year-round, click here. For more information on the program, visit the AguaCares website.

They traveled from Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to learn about El Paso Water. By the end of their visit, it became clear what the star attraction of their visit was – the groundbreaking Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant.

On July 9, special visitors from the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program absorbed an enlightening earful from Water Supply Manager Ruben Rodriguez and Art Ruiz, KBH Superintendent, during their trip to El Paso.

The nine current and emerging leaders from Southeast Asia and their two liaisons came to EPWater to hear more about cross-border water resource management while touring the United States for the international program.

During the foreign leaders’ short-term stays in the U.S., visitors were urged to cultivate business relationships with their American counterparts in four cities. Other cities on their agenda were Buffalo, Albuquerque, and Portland.

Aside from EPWater, visitors also met with representatives of the International Boundary and Water Commission and El Paso County Water Improvement District #1.

Rodriguez presented the visitors with a complete overview of EPWater and its facilities, offering a glimpse of the challenges of being situated within the Chihuahuan Desert.

“I described some of the issues we have had lately with drought conditions and how we have been creative with our water sources – like desalination,” Rodriguez said.

Afterward, Ruiz led the special visitors on a tour of the largest inland desalination plant in the world, which has drawn visitors from around the globe and produced 17 billion gallons of water since opening in 2007.

“They were fascinated with the KBH,” Ruiz said. “They were impressed with its operation, the automation and its success.”

Araceli L. McCoy, executive director of the El Paso Council for International Visitors, accompanied the group during the EPWater tour and said the visitors lavished praise on Ruiz for his professionalism and Rodriguez, who they said helped them to understand the technology used by EPWater that results in a clean, safe product.

Visitors expressed surprise at the size of the plant and how salty water is transformed into clean, clear drinking water, McCoy said.

Both Rodriguez and Ruiz know EPWater left a lasting impression on the visitors, judging by the reactions and questions they were getting on desalination and the environment.

“I hope they concluded [from the presentation] that they have the ability to do something like this in their homeland,” Ruiz said. “The desalination plant is a proven success, and we showed it can be done in the desert. It’s difficult but achievable.”

“I wanted them to know that despite our location, El Paso Water has solutions to the challenges,” Rodriguez added. “We are making sure that we are supplying the water that customers need, and we are moving toward innovative solutions and new technology to boost our sustainability in El Paso.”

Employees, legislators and industry experts gathered Friday to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Desalination Plant and its ushering of El Paso Water as a front runner in the industry.

“Given the vast brackish groundwater resources, desalination is an important part of the puzzle that will ensure we have a vital water future for this community, including for our kids, grandchildren and anybody that wants to live here in the future,” said John Balliew, president and CEO of EPWater.

When Ed Archuleta first came to the utility in the late 1980s, El Paso was facing a bleak future in water management – including predictions the city would run out of water by 2009.

Archuleta, former President and CEO of the utility, spoke about the challenges El Paso faced when he first arrived.

“How can you have economic development if people don’t have water,” he said. “Water means public health, water means security, but it also means economic development. This city was trying to find ways to provide economic development, but we had this issue that we were known as the city that might run out of water.”

Since opening shop in 2007, the groundbreaking KBH Desalination Plant has played a pivotal role in building up El Paso’s resiliency to droughts, changing weather conditions and the city’s steady growth. Producing 17 billion gallons of water for El Pasoans since opening, the plant is a key piece of El Paso Water’s water supply strategy and helps protect the fresh groundwater supplies of El Paso and Fort Bliss.

“This is an amazing public-public partnership that stands as a great example to the rest of the arid west and is an essential component of El Paso’s portfolio of water resources to help sustain the thriving local economy and the military operations at Fort Bliss,” said Guy Carpenter, President of the national WateReuse Association.

The KBH Desalination Plant has also become a model, attracting visitors from around the globe – especially from other inland cities facing more frequent droughts and other serious water supply challenges.

“The plant is a unique asset to this community that sets El Paso apart; it is a part of the story of the innovation here in in the city,” Mayor Dee Margo said.

The celebration featured tours of the desalination plant and the new Enviro Water Minerals plant, which will be the first full-recovery desalination facility—taking the waste brine concentrate from the KBH Desalination Plant and turning salts and minerals into commercial products. As part of the resulting process, EWM will produce up to 2 million gallons of water per day for El Paso.

Researchers also convened to share results of work underway or completed at the Consortium for Hi-Technology Investigations in Water & Wastewater (CHIWAWA) research laboratory, which is housed inside the plant.

“The research underway here will shape the future of desalination for the nation,” Archuleta said.

El Paso Water continues efforts to repair two collapsed underground stormwater drains at the intersection of La Placita and Villa Hermosa streets in west El Paso. The drains collapsed on the evening of July 22, causing damage to several areas of the street.

On Monday, EPWater closed all of La Placita from Villa Hermosa to Westwind Drive until repairs are complete. Surrounding homes and businesses are safe, however EPWater strongly urges residents and onlookers not to cross or go near the barricades.

EPWater is working with nearby apartments and homeowners to ensure safe access to their homes.

To ensure public safety, EPWater is working with a local contractor to replace the stormwater drains on La Placita from Villa Hermosa to Westwind in addition to repairing the street. There is no estimated timeline or costs at this point.

Contractors will work 7 days a week to replace the stormwater drains and pave the streets as soon as possible.

The stormwater drains that collapsed are about 40 years old, and there are hundreds of miles of underground stormwater drains in El Paso. EPWater is assessing the condition of stormwater drains in the surrounding area that may also need repair.

“We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused nearby residents and businesses, and we appreciate their patience while we replace the stormwater drains.” said EPWater President and CEO John Balliew. “We are investigating the use of innovative technologies to minimize disruptions to the neighborhood during repairs.”

La Placita street from Villa Hermosa to Westwind remains closed until repairs are complete.

The H2O4Texas coalition’s statewide tour comes to El Paso for its eighth regional Town Hall meeting this year to promote awareness and dialogue on regional water planning. The event is free and open to the public and is scheduled for Wednesday Oct. 26 at 9 a.m. at the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce.

The Far West Texas (Region E) water plan is one of 16 regional water plans developed as part of the state water planning process. The plan addresses the needs of all water user groups in the state – municipal, irrigation, manufacturing, livestock, mining, and electric power.

The event will feature a panel of El Paso leaders who are stakeholders in this region’s 50-year water plan, and the format encourages citizens to voice concerns and ask questions. Event speakers include Jesus (Chuy) Reyes, Region E Chair and General Manager of El Paso County Water Improvement District #1, El Paso Electric President and CEO Mary Kipp, State Senator Jose Rodriguez and El Paso Water President and CEO John Balliew among others.

According to the Texas Water Development Board, the population of El Paso and the Far West Texas region is expected to exceed 900K by 2020 and could rise to 1.5 million by 2070. Because Far West Texas water resources are shared with New Mexico and Mexico, it presents unique challenges in planning to meet water needs for population growth.

“With the river drought expected to continue, we need additional water sources to meet the demands of a growing population,” said El Paso Water (EPWater) President and CEO John Balliew. “The state water plan gives us a framework to work with our regional stakeholders and effectively plan for the future.”

With drought cycles, an arid climate and unpredictable Rio Grande flows, EPWater – the largest municipal water supplier in the region – had to first confront these challenges many years ago and shaped innovative programs that resulted in El Paso’s national leadership in conservation, reclamation and desalination. El Paso has reduced water consumption by more than 30 percent over the last 25 years.

For three decades, El Paso has been treating and reclaiming wastewater for irrigation, industrial and commercial uses as well as for aquifer replenishment. And in 2007, El Paso opened the Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant, the largest inland desalination plant in the world.

In the statewide water plan, which looks out to water requirements over a 50-year timespan, EPWater has proposed several new pioneering projects, to include expanding the desalination plant (from 27 million gallons per day to 42 million gallons per day) and introducing advanced water purification, a process that transforms highly treated wastewater into high quality drinking water – or purified water.

Eventually, EPWater also expects to import water from sources as far as 90 miles away.

While El Paso is by far the largest population center for the Region E water plan and El Paso Water is a singularly significant water supplier, Wednesday’s Town Hall conversation is expected to also encompass water planning for Hudspeth, Culberson, Jeff Davis, Presidio, Brewster and Terrell counties.