May 2025 Newsletter

WateReuse Texas committee volunteers are busy reviewing and selecting program abstracts for our 20th anniversary conference in Houston this September 16-18. We have obtained a fantastic hotel rate for our attendees and are looking forward to a very special celebration this year, with some special featured guests and a fun party! 

Registration pricing is as follows (to check if your organization is a member of WateReuse Association, click here and enter your company name):  

• Student tickets: $25
• Utility member Early Bird registration: $99 until July 31
• Regulatory or Institutional members and Utility non-members Early Bird registration: $200 until July 31
• All Reuse-related businesses and all others after August 1: $350
• Onsite/late registration: $400 rate for all registrations after September 8 
  

WateReuse Texas members must be signed into your account to access this pricing, and utility non-members must email wrtxconference@watereuse.org for a code to access Early Bird pricing. Group deals for four or more attendees from one utility are available.  

Our poster proposals and award nomination submissions are open year-round, but to be considered for the 2025 conference they must be submitted by July 15. To learn more about the requirements, visit here. 

For more information about conference sponsorship and tabling, view our prospectus. Contact Noelle George to confirm sponsorship level or reserve tables (tabling space is limited)! 

Join WateReuse Texas at the Corpus Christi One Water Summit on May 21-23 at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, TX. The summit will include two panels featuring reuse:  

Thursday morning: Water Reuse Panel Discussion, moderated by WRTX board secretary Dan Olson (Garver), featuring panelists Wesley Nebgen (Corpus Christi Water), Gilbert Trejo (El Paso Water) and Daniel Nix (TAWWA) 

Friday morning: Type 1 and 2 Water Reuse Discussion, moderated by WRTX managing director Noelle George. featuring panelists Wesley Nebgen (Corpus Christi Water), Mark Vega (City of McAllen) and Greg Wetterau (CDM Smith) 

Online registration is now closed but to inquire about sponsorship, please contact Ashley Marion or Lynette Maynard.

With its historic groundbreaking Feb. 27, El Paso Water (EPWater) is blazing trails for the future of water reuse in Texas.

WateReuse Texas member EPWater celebrated the groundbreaking of its cutting-edge Pure Water Center—a direct-to-distribution potable reuse facility and the first of its kind in the United States. The facility will use a robust treatment process to convert recycled water into high-quality drinking water, which will be distributed directly to customers.

Project completion is expected by 2028, with the plant anticipated to supply up to 10 million gallons per day of safe, reliable, and drought-resistant water to the El Paso community.

Drawing attention to the national significance of the Pure Water Center, WateReuse Association President Bart Weiss attended the groundbreaking ceremony. Several WateReuse and WateReuse Texas members will also play a role in the design and construction of this innovative facility, including Carollo Engineers, PCL Construction, and Sundt Construction.

Christina Montoya-Halter, WRTX President and Communications and Marketing Manager at EPWater, was instrumental in organizing the groundbreaking as well as the Future of Water Reuse Forum that took place the following day.

“I’m grateful for our hard-working communications team who pulled off these events, and for being a part of such an amazing and forward-thinking utility,” she said.

EPWater President and CEO John Balliew echoed the enthusiasm for the highly anticipated event.

“After years of planning, design and thousands of water-quality tests, we are excited to begin construction on the Pure Water Center,” he said. 

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation provided $3.5 million in grant funding for the initial design of the facility and an additional $20 million for construction costs, helping to offset the financial impact on El Pasoans. The project is currently estimated to cost $290 million, and EPWater continues to pursue state and federal funding.

This new supply of water will help El Paso meet the demand brought on by new growth and uncertain river water supplies related to long-term drought.

By producing high-quality drinking water from a renewable source, EPWater will increase the resilience of their desert community and serve as a model for communities with similar challenges.

WateReuse Texas has been actively engaged in and monitoring the 89th legislative session, including providing testimony to the House Natural Resources Committee and meeting with the offices of various Senators and Representatives throughout the session. We also attended Texas Water Day at the Capitol on March 3, organized by the Texas Water Foundation. We are coordinating and communicating with other water organizations, and our policy committee has been meeting monthly to share relevant updates and ask questions to our government affairs consultant. The following are updates for key items which may be of interest to our members:

Water Funding: Senate bills SJR 66, SB7 and House bills HJR 7, HB 16

The 2025 legislative session ends on June 2, and the recurring, dedicated funding for water is still in flux, as we expected it would be. The existing House and Senate bills and joint resolutions have had several updates or amendments, and Senator Perry recently provided a statement that agreement had been reached with Representative Harris that HJR 7 will be the legislation to authorize the dedicated funding. There have been a few key developments:

• $1B annual funding anticipated to start in FY 2027 will be delayed by one year: HJR 7 was approved by the House last week, with an amendment moving the start of $1B of dedicated water funding to FY2028. If passed, this ballot measure will go to voters in the November election. This amount does not fully cover the estimated need to repair aging water infrastructure as well as address new water supply needs, according to a recent report from Texas 2036.
  
  
• Reuse projects included in House version of Texas Water Fund: The House Committee on Natural Resources heard a committee substitute which includes funding for a much greater range of water supply projects, including potable and non-potable reuse projects. Chairman Harris indicated several amendments will be proposed when the bill goes to the House Floor. SB 7 (Perry) was passed by the Senate. We anticipate that these bills will be reconciled in conference and a compromise which includes reuse will be passed before the end of session.

On April 2, WRTX managing director Noelle George testified to the House Natural Resources Committee in support of SB 7, with several key points:

• As a trade association representing utilities, WateReuse Texas does not believe there is a single ‘right’ solution to our water crisis and we support as much flexibility as possible in the funding.
  
  
• If Texas can’t provide a place for businesses to land with reliable water supply, we will lose business revenue and economic growth opportunities.
  
  
• Project delays of all types (funding, regulatory, etc.) can cause project costs to increase over time, therefore even if funding is allocated, if it doesn’t address the majority of need, we will be at risk for additional losses.
  
  
• No matter how much funding is available, there are gaps at TCEQ and TWDB that need to be addressed to fully leverage reuse as a solution to address water challenges in Texas, including adequate staffing and IT software, and accurate digital data collection.

In the interim, our policy committee will be looking at how we can advocate with the state agencies to ensure reuse data, staffing, and other reuse-related needs are met with the limited funding for water.

Additional Updates

• Senate Bill 1253 (Perry): WateReuse Texas has been monitoring this bill, which requires a political subdivision to provide credit against impact fees to builders and developers for certain conservation and water reuse projects. There is no provision as to the amount of the credit, and we expect that this bill will be passed with minimal opposition. View the current bill text here.
  
  
• TCEQ Rule Revisions: Last session, WateReuse Texas collaborated with several other organizations to support SB 1289 (Perry), which directed TCEQ to provide an alternate permitting pathway for onsite reuse that didn’t require a TLAP or TPDES permit. The changes to comply with this legislation have been adopted as of 3/6/2025. View the executive summary here.
  
  
• Planned revisions to Chapter 217 are on hold pending the legislative session.
  
  
• PFAS-Related Updates: The EPA has announced its general intention to regulate PFAS chemicals, and there has been a continued state legislative push to regulate/prohibit land application of wastewater treatment byproduct/biosolids due to the presence of PFAS chemicals in biosolids.  Questions or comments about PFAS-related items can be sent to Nathan Vassar, chair of the WateReuse Texas Policy Committee.

For questions about WRTX’s legislative or regulatory advocacy or to join our policy committee, please contact Noelle George.

Please help us welcome the following new members to WateReuse Texas!

• Adaptive Water
• Campbell Legal, PLLC
• City of Garland
• Energized Tech Ventures
• Monk Process Group, LLC
• Newterra

Get engaged with our work and share ideas with colleagues by joining a committee! Each committee works on projects related to the committee topic, gives feedback on WRTX goals and objectives, and receives relevant updates during committee meetings.  

WateReuse Texas has four standing committees: 

• Outreach Committee (meets quarterly) 
  Next meeting 7/25 at 10 am, Q4 meeting on 10/24 

• Policy Committee (meets quarterly when not in session) 
  Next meeting 7/29, Q4 meeting on 10/28  

• Research Committee (meets bi-monthly) 
  Next meeting 6/5 at 1 pm and even months on the first Thursday 

• Events Committee (meets monthly and more often in August) 
  Next meeting May 23 at 1 pm 

*All meetings are virtual, and times are in the Central time zone 

These committees are designed to allow member organizations a direct way to engage in their most related reuse field. Any individual employed by a WRTX member is eligible to join. If you are interested in joining any of these committees, please contact Noelle George. 

In an Op Ed this month, Bryan Morris, Chair of El Paso Water’s Public Service Board, called on Texas legislators to answer the call for recurring, dedicated funding for water projects and detailed how El Paso Water has a proven model that other communities can use: a source of “new” water to address their water supply needs without building out an expensive purple pipe system for traditional recycled water. The accompanying video features water leaders, including recent WRTX Archuleta Award winner Gilbert Trejo, sharing and responding to El Paso’s leadership in water recycling.

In March, KVUE, the Austin TV station that previously interviewed Jill Williamson and Noelle George during the WRTX conference, reported on strategies Central Texas communities are leveraging to increase the resiliency of their future water supplies through reuse, and how some communities are turning to direct potable reuse (DPR) to address their needs. “It’s not a question of if direct potable reuse or other forms of water reuse become the norm in Central Texas, it’s a matter of when,” said Jeremy Mazur from Texas 2036.

In January, The Corpus Christi Caller Times highlighted the water supply solutions that the City of Corpus Christi is exploring, including providing a Type 2 recycled water filling station at their Oxo water treatment plant. While the Type 2 station has been in use for the last two years, officials are considering providing a Type 1 filling station for residential use. The article featured a quote from WateReuse Texas Managing Director Noelle George sharing conditions in Texas that are influencing more and more communities to look toward reuse.

In January, the University of Texas, Austin announced plans to partner with WateReuse member H2O Innovation on a 9,600-square-foot WaterHub project. Early projections indicate the facility will reduce the campus's potable water usage by 40% and sewer volume by up to 70%. The project is anticipated to come online in 2027. "This transformational project further positions UT Austin as a national leader in resource management," said Xavier Rivera Marzán, the university's Executive Director of Utilities and Energy Management.

Last month, WateReuse member Garver, LLC won a contract with the City of Corpus Christi to provide preliminary design services for the city's Reclaimed Water Infrastructure project. Garver will assist the city in evaluating and developing a direct and indirect potable reuse plan for four of the city's Water Reclamation Plants as part of its effort to increase its water reuse capabilities. The project will entail analyzing water quality, determining permitting requirements, establishing a pilot plant protocol, and providing a preliminary design and cost estimate for a full-scale purification facility. The completion of the preliminary design is anticipated in May 2026.

In March, WateReuse members Epic Cleantec and Austin Water hosted a panel titled "Cities and Buildings Leading the Water Reuse Revolution" at the annual South by Southwest Conference & Festivals held in Austin. The panel showcased Austin's efforts to expand onsite reuse following its adoption of ordinances last year that mandate all large-scale commercial, multifamily, and mixed development projects incorporate on-site water reuse systems. The initiative is focused on recycling rain and condensate water for irrigation, toilet flushing, and cooling systems. The panel featured Katherine Jashinski, a supervising engineer at Austin Water, Newsha Ajami, Chief Strategy and Development Officer for Research at Berkeley Lab, Samantha Flores, Vice President and Director of Hugo at Corgan, and Aaron Tartakovsky, Co-Founder and CEO at Epic Cleantec.

Please view the WateReuse Texas Meetings & Events page for upcoming events, webinars, and more.

For National events, please view the National Conferences and Events page.

Noelle George, Managing Director
ngeorge@watereuse.org | (832) 619-9496