El Paso Water and Enviro Water Minerals Co. are collaborating to use cutting-edge technology at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant.
The desalination plant moves brackish water through fine membranes to remove salts and other contaminants. The fresh drinking water that remains is distributed to customers, and the extracted waste concentrate was initially piped to a disposal facility. The plant can produce up to 27.5 million gallons of fresh water per day.
EWM converts the plant’s waste concentrate into fresh drinking water by extracting all contaminants, which are then transformed into industrial-grade mineral products. EWM sells the mineral products in commercial markets andsells the fresh drinking back to EPWater for customers.
At full capacity, the EWM partnership can potentially increase water production at the desalination plant by about 1 million gallons per day. The collaboration also gives EPWater a more cost-effective option for waste concentrate disposal,which would further increase production capacity at the desalination plant.