El Paso water facilities to get upgraded equipment

Two water facilities in the borderland are getting an upgrade after nearly 30 years.

The John T. Hickerson Water Reclamation Facility is a water waste treatment plant located on I-10 and Executive, and the Jonathan W. Rogers Water Treatment Plant is located in southeast El Paso. That plant treats river water and is a drinking source for El Paso.

Both plants will be getting new equipment in the coming months that could help create high quality water for the borderland.

Contracts for rehabilitation for work for both plants were approved this morning by the Public Service Board.

The work includes upgrading equipment that is high energy use and installing new equipment that is more efficient in treating the water.

The Jonathan W. Rogers Water Treatment Plant will have a water treatment step that adds ozone gas into the water which will serve as a disinfectant, but also helps in creating water that tastes good. At the John T. Hickerson facility, there will be two upgrades. The first will be ultraviolet light disinfection which is used to disinfect water as well.

“Disinfection is a primary step, but ozone gas is what will be generated by this equipment. The new equipment will generate it much more efficiently so there’s a power saving involved and that’s the work at Jonathan Rodgers,” explained Gilbert Trejo, chief technical officer of El Paso Water Utilities.

The Jonathan W. Rogers Water Treatment Plant equipment is a construction contract that will begin next month and will run for approximately two years.

The equipment updates at the John T. Hickerson facility will last about a year and then construction will begin a year after that.