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Brownsville utility details multimillion-dollar plan to boost local water supply and launch reuse pilot
Summary
PUB and SRWA officials told the commission that Brownsville currently produces about 7.5 million gallons per day, is operating under Stage 2 drought guidance, and is pursuing upgrades, an 8-MGD indirect potable reuse pilot and a potential expansion to 20 MGD that would cost more than $180 million—funding dependent on grants.
Joseph Coleman, a Brownsville Public Utilities (PUB) board member and SRWA president, outlined city water-supply conditions and multiyear projects at the Nov. 18 City Commission meeting. He said SRWA currently produces about 7.5 million gallons per day (MGD) and that reservoir levels and river allocations are low, putting the utility in Stage 2 drought conditions. "We're at roughly 26%" capacity in the reservoirs, Coleman said.
Coleman framed two near-term options: optimize the existing brackish-groundwater desalination plant to reach 10 MGD (the optimization work was described as a roughly $42,000,000 project) and pilot an indirect potable reuse project expected to provide about 8 MGD at an estimated cost of $35,000,000. He said the reuse pilot would treat already-treated effluent and return it to the treatment plant for full potable treatment. "We would assume about 60%" of demand could be met when combining SRWA and reuse, he said in Q&A.
Looking longer term, Coleman described a plan to double the plant’s output to 20 MGD. He estimated the expansion itself at about $181,000,000 and said the combined optimization-plus-expansion program would run around $223,000,000. He emphasized the utility’s effort to minimize ratepayer impact by pursuing federal and state grants and other funding sources. "We're trying to get funds that don't encumber the citizens…with extra debt," Coleman said.
PUB staff told commissioners they are pursuing multiple funding streams, including a recent roughly $40,000,000 award through the Water Development Act and a $5,000,000 WaterSmart grant for advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) deployment; staff said AMI is already being installed in parts of the city. Coleman also described infrastructure investments such as replacing aging river pumps (estimated $36,000,000), reconstructing wells and upgrading reverse-osmosis and microfiltration systems.
Commissioners asked whether building an expensive expansion now would risk obsolescence and whether the cost to produce SRWA water is higher than river water; staff acknowledged higher treatment costs for brackish desalination but said it remains far cheaper than ocean desalination and that delaying construction could raise costs due to inflation. Coleman noted the utility supplies some neighboring rural systems and said easements and regional partners are being considered as capacity grows.
Coleman also described the Banco Morales reservoir project, which he said will store approximately 400,000,000 gallons to improve resiliency. He emphasized the combined approach—optimization, reuse, storage and cautious expansion—while continuing to seek grant funding to blunt costs to local ratepayers.
Next steps: PUB staff said they will continue grant applications and bring updates to the commission as funding opportunities and project designs progress.
