Home\Texas\El Paso Water Breaks Ground on Direct Potable Reuse Facility

El Paso Water Breaks Ground on Direct Potable Reuse Facility

Date: May 08, 2025

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.

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