Description
Biwater AEWT, Inc., the number one supplier of municipal membrane treatment plants in the USA and one of the largest suppliers in the world, supplied the El Paso water membrane plant, the largest inland desalination facility in the United States.

The joint facility produces a total water supply of 27.5 MGD by blending 15 MGD permeate from a reverse osmosis plant with raw “blend” water to meet project water quality goals. The facility is able to use the vast quantity of brackish water within the Hueco Bolson, an underground aquifer that has been designated a priority groundwater management area by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission.

The plant is needed because fresh water is currently being extracted from the Hueco Bolson – the sole water supply for Fort Bliss and provides approximately 40 percent of El Paso’s municipal water supply.

The Hueco Bolson holds about 25 million acre feet of brackish water that must be treated to be drinkable.

The $95 million project which includes the plant, the well fields, a technology and education centre and injection wells to dispose of the salty concentrate left behind. The plant operating cost is estimated to be approximately $4.8 million per year.

The El Paso Desalination Plant could soon lead the way for a long-term water strategy in the United States.

Biwater AEWT, Inc. has supplied a total plant capacity of more than 250 MGD to date. For more information about Biwater AEWT visit their website www.biwateraewt.com