A ten year goal became a reality today, as the San Antonio Water System threw the switch and activated one of the largest inland water desalination plants in the United States, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The H2Oaks plant, which is located in far southeast Bexar County, will remove 99.9% of the saline from the brackish Carrizo Aquifer, producing 12 million gallons of water per day, enough to serve 53,000 homes.
SAWS Chairman Berto Guerra says he is proud that San Antonio has risen to the occasion and come up with alternative sources of water.
"A city that doesn't have water, is a city without a future,"
Guerra said. The desal plant will join SAWS innovative storage and recovery system, which is located on the same property, and, soon, the water from the massive Vista Ridge Pipeline, which will pump in water from an aquifer in Burleson County west of Bryan.
Mayor Ivy Taylor recalled the late 1990s, when the city's then only source of water, the Edwards Aquifer, was being restricted by federal judges to maintain endangered species.
She says major employers, including USAA, were openly threatening to leave San Antonio if more water was not found.
The water comes from an aquifer 1500 feet below the surface, far deeper than the Edwards Aquifer.
Since the water is brackish it is not in demand for agricultural use, and since it is underground, it is not subject to evaporation, as reservoirs are.
SAWS officials pointed out that the water being recovered for the desal plant will not be subject to drought use restrictions, and will not be seized to nourish any blind salamander.
The water that comes out of the H2Oaks plant will be completely indistinguishable from any other water, and can be used for all water purposes, from bathing and cooking to drinking, cleaning, and lawn watering.
PHOTO' SAWS