Water is always a hot commodity in South Texas. On Friday, San Antonio and SAWS celebrated the opening of an innovative facility that taps water from three different aquifers.
SAWS is responsible for bringing water to the 1.6 million people living in San Antonio. With their new H2Oaks Center in southern Bexar County, SAWS has the only location in the country where three sources of water are produced.
City dignitaries flooded into the state of the art brackish water treatment plant that took two-and-a-half years to build. But it doesn't just clean the water.
"We pull the water out of the Edwards Aquifer, pipe it down here, store it underground for use during the summertime. It's like a savings account so during drought conditions we pull it back out and use it," SAWS CEO and President Robert Puente said.
"We are also bringing water from the Carrizo Aquifer, itself," said Greg Wukasch, SAWS manager of external relations.
The water goes through what are called membrane elements.
"This is where we desalinate the water so, literally, the water is going to go through these membranes," Wukasch said.
That water is de-brined and, upon leaving the facility, is clean enough to drink. In all, 12 million gallons of clean water are produced a day, which is enough to supply 53,000 households.
Not only does the plant desalinate and store water, but it acts as an onsite research facility. And the layout of the building allows for educational opportunities.
"We want to be able to teach about water, about desalination, about aquifer storage recovery, about all of our water issues, and really the water story of San Antonio," Wukasch noted.
To learn more about the plant and the water system in San Antonio, SAWS offers free, day-long tours every month called "From Rain To Drain." Just click here for more information.