A water outlook plan includes new projects that will add to El Paso’s water supply
EL PASO, Texas -- The city continues to be in a "drought situation," said John Balliew El Paso Water CEO said during an agenda meeting. He adds that the "drought situation" is not in terms of current rainfall but as an outlook towards the future.
The water supply in Elephant Butte is only at 12 and 1/2 percent of its full capacity. This is ahead of the June 1st release of water for the 2022 irrigation season. With that Balliew said they are anticipating four weeks of water in the river.
"We've done a lot of things to be able to meet that customer demand without implementing our drought and water emergency plan. So we anticipate we'll be fine, but just to keep in mind that we continue to need to make investments in our water supply," said Balliew.
Two new projects were introduced to help add to the water supply.
One is the KBH expansion project. They are in phase 2 of construction. This expansion will give 6 million gallons of water per day.
The second is an advanced water purification facility. The design is still in the works with construction set to begin in 2023. This project will bring an additional 10 million gallons per day.
