EPWWS hosts tour of treatment plants

Water is brought into the system from the river, and a light beam is then used to determine how dirty the water is: the faster it refracts, the cleaner it is. 

A coagulant is added into the water to bind debris that then gathers at the bottom, separating the water from unwanted substances. 

Water is later filtered through white pipes known as housing where everything from bacteria and viruses are cleaned out. Tiny straws make up what is called the capillary membrane, through which the water flows. Millions of pores throughout the walls of the capillary membranes that measure .035 microns in diameter filter out unwanted material.

The government requires the water to be at 0.3 Nephelometric Turbidity Units or NTU, said Barrera, but the water being released to the public was measured at .02 NTU.  It was originally brought in from the river at 22 NTU. 

Next on the tour was a trip to the Eagle Pass Waste Water Treatment Plant. 

Aerators are used to provide good bacteria with oxygen to breakdown waste. The water then goes into the clarifier, where solids gather at the bottom and cleaner water rises above. 

The remaining sludge is distributed throughout the grass farms that surround the plant.

After it leaves the clarifier, it passes through Parshall flume to measure the flow. It is then taken to the contact chlorine chamber, where a careful balance of chlorine is added to kill off anything dangerous in the water, but not so much that it would harm the environment. 

The water undergoes various tests, including a chlorine residual test, three times a day in the facility’s lab before it is released back into the river cleaner than it was when it arrived at the Roberto Gonzalez Regional Water Plant. 

The 6 million gallon facility will hopefully be expanded to 8 or 10 million gallons in the next ten years, said Barrera.