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Brownsville utility leaders outline $223 million plan to boost SRWA output and pilot reuse
Summary
PUB and SRWA officials told the city commission they are optimizing the desalination plant and pursuing federal and state grants to expand capacity from about 7.5 million gallons per day toward 20 MGD; immediate optimization is a $42 million project and a full expansion is estimated at $181 million, plus a $35 million potable‑reuse pilot.
Joseph Coleman, a member of the Brownsville Public Utilities Board and president of the Southern Regional Water Authority (SRWA), told the City Commission on Nov. 18 that the city is in a Stage 2 drought guideline and needs to strengthen water resilience.
“We are roughly around 26%,” Coleman said, referring to reservoir capacity, and added that Brownsville’s system currently draws about 71% of its supply from the Rio Grande and about 29% from SRWA’s brackish groundwater plant. He said the SRWA plant currently produces about 7.5 million gallons per day and is being optimized to reach a 10 million gallons per day output under a roughly $42,000,000 project now underway.
Coleman said the authority is also…
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