Chapter 4: Recycling Wastewater for Water Security El Paso, Texas is running out of water. In 2000, a study by the Border Information Institute estimates the aquifer supporting the city and its neighboring border town of Ciudad Juarez would go dry by 2025.152 In response to the pressure, the city began bolstering its water reclamation program. El Paso has been recycling wastewater from its four treatment plants since 1963. The water can be used for a range of non- potable uses, from watering city parks and street sweeping to industrial processes.153 Now, El Paso hopes to also recycle its wastewater effluent as drinking water. Treating wastewater for immediate use as drinking water, called direct potable reuse, is completely safe. However, public skepticism of “toilet-to-tap” systems has been strong. In order to educate El Pasoans on the safety of the proposed system, El Paso Water embarked on a public relations campaign. It even created a plush mascot who makes visits to local schools.154 The proposed direct potable reuse system has now completed the pilot-testing phase garnered public buy in, which prompted the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to certify it for fullscale design and construction.155 The plant uses four processes to treat wastewater effluent: membranes, reverse osmosis, ultraviolet disinfection, and granular activated carbon. El Paso’s long-lasting water recycling program—growing from indirect reuse to direct—can serve as a model example for China’s thirsty cities.156 Beijing, with a population of 31 times the size of El Paso, has dried up many of its reservoirs.157 The city now relies increasingly on the South-North Water Transfer Project, a controversial, multibillion-dollar system that pumps water from the Yangtze River in the south into the capital and other dry northern areas. Water recycling offers Beijing and other Chinese cities a more sustainable solution.158
Photo Credit: El Paso Water 34
