El Paso Is Going to Turn Wastewater Into Drinking Water. Other Cities Will Soon Follow
El Paso Water broke ground on the first U.S. facility that will treat wastewater for direct re-use in a city water supply, using a four-step process to transform wastewater into clean, potable drinking water.
This desert city gets less than nine inches of rain a year and experienced the two hottest years in its recorded history in 2023 and 2024.
But El Paso Water started planning decades ago for this hotter, drier climate. On Thursday the utility broke ground on its latest project to secure water for the city of 700,000: an advanced water purification facility that will deliver 10 million gallons per day of purified water from the city’s wastewater stream directly into its drinking water supply.
