El Paso desalination plant attracting attention

A 7.5-million-gallon-a-day desalination facility opened in Brownsville in 2004. The El Paso plant has the capacity to produce upwards of 27 million gallons of water per day. In the accompanying photo, Balliew (left) accepts an award from David Derr, treasurer of the American Membrane Technology Association, its fourth top engineering award.

The year-old desalination plant, which has attracted international attention for its progressive water-supply strategy, recently added another award - from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality - to its growing cache of honors relating to public drinking water. Balliew said the TCEQ award was based on a solution to a vexing water situation. "The marvel is the solution we used to the concentrate disposal problem," he said. "In an inland situation, you cannot discharge typically to the ocean. Rivers and lakes typically cannot handle the high salt content."

Balliew said officials at the plant pilot-tested many options to evaporate waste either naturally or thermally. "Deep well injection is by far less costly and less problematic," he said.

And while historically El Paso has faced challenges in attracting new business based on water-scarcity issues, Balliew said the desalination plant played a significant role in the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission's (BRAC) decision to relocate a number of military personnel and their dependents to El Paso.

The $87 million plant recently added the TechH20 Center - an educational facility with auditoriums and presentations to educate school children and teachers on water issues.

Currently the plant supplies water for east, northeast and Mission Valley areas in or around El Paso, increasing fresh water production by 25 percent. There are no plans afoot to supply other areas, according to Balliew. "Nothing else will follow," he said.