Water Policy Leaders Applaud Utility's Water Resources Management

Federal water policy leaders gathered in January for a regional water summit at the Carlos M. Ramirez TecH₂O Water Resources Learning Center. As part of their visit to El Paso, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Mike Connor also visited the Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant.

"We are seeing a lot of things that are really very important and are putting this community at the forefront in terms of how we address water resources and water shortages," Salazar said.

He lauded El Paso for diversifying its water portfolio to include river water, well water, reclaimed water and desalinated groundwater.

The Bureau of Reclamation manages rivers and lakes across the West. Commissioner Connor says Western cities that continue to rely exclusively on rivers and lakes as water sources must commit to diversifying, just as El Paso has done.

"To come and celebrate with El Paso Water Utilities their transformation from where they've been, being a community on the edge with respect to water resources, to being one that has demonstrated such great leadership," Connor said.

A key component of that leadership included construction of the world's largest inland desalination plant. The Hutchison Plant is capable to producing 27.5 million gallons of drinkable water every day. The desalination process allowed El Paso Water Utilities to turn previously undrinkable brackish water from the Hueco Bolson Aquifer into a clean, clear water resource for El Paso's future.

Another key component of El Paso's success is water conservation, which the interior secretary says is becoming a national model and nationally important as the dry La Niña weather pattern is expected to continue.

"People across the country are looking to El Paso as a place where they can learn by example," Salazar said.

Salazar and Connor also pledged to work with EPWU as it seeks funding to fuel the Hutchison plant using solar power, using one of the most plentiful resources in the Chihuahuan Desert, to help find new sources of its most precious resource.

"You also see something here which I think is remarkable, and a great example for the nation, and that's looking to renewable energy as a way we can power facilities like this," Salazar said.