New Water Plant in Big Spring to Help Supply Future
By: Stephanie Sobic
Updated: June 8, 2010
In 20 to 30 years, good water sources might be hard to come by. That's why the Colorado River Municipal Water District is thinking ahead by taking an extra step now.
As things stand right now, the CRMWD delivers its customers raw water, meaning it's untreated. But things are about to change. The CRMWD is getting into the treatment business to better serve their customers now and in the future.
"You know water in West Texas is pretty salty," says CRMWD General Manager, John Grant.
And, we can expect it to be even saltier in the years to come.
"Our future water supplies are going to come from ground water and their most likely going to take an additional treatment because the ground water left out here is brackish," says Grant.
The CRMWD pulls from several different surface water sources to supply their customers.
"Our biggest water user in West Texas is evaporation," says Grant.
Of course, the salt in the water speeds up the evaporation. So, to better conserve our surface water and to gear up for treating ground water in the future; the CRMWD is building a water treatment plant in Big Spring.
"It will take suspended solids out, we're going to RO that water; that takes the salt out. We're going to disinfect it, were going to blend it back to our raw water pipeline," explains Grant.
Cities will then take that raw water mix and treat it again. Essentially, the CRMWD is treating the water an extra time, which in the future will be a necessary step when using ground water.
"So as we move 20-30 years down the road, we'll already have that experience," says Grant.
Construction on the new plant is expected to start in December and be completed in 2012. On top of this new plant, the district also purchased groundwater wells from the Luminant Generation Power Plant Company in Ward County. The district's future water supply.
