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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 evaluating a full expansion that would double output to 20 million gallons per day. “Doubling the output to 20 megagallons per day will cost around a $181,000,000,” he said, and estimated a combined cost for optimization and expansion of about $223,000,000. Coleman said the authority is prioritizing projects that minimize cost to ratepayers and is seeking federal and state grant funding to reduce the local share.
The presentation included an indirect potable‑reuse pilot that SRWA estimates could yield about 8,000,000 gallons per day at an estimated cost of $35,000,000. Coleman framed reuse as a more economical near‑term option compared with full plant doubling and said the city is pursuing multiple funding sources to avoid placing the full burden on ratepayers.
Commissioners asked about the relative cost of SRWA water versus river water. The presentation and PUB staff said brackish desalination is costlier than treating river water but far cheaper than ocean desalination. Coleman said the blended operating cost for SRWA treatment is roughly "2 and a half" (as described in the meeting) times the baseline rate, while ocean desalination could cost around $10 per unit on preliminary estimates discussed in the session.
A city staff speaker and PUB grants representative summarized recent and pending grant awards: a $40,000,000 award through the Water Infrastructure Finance/Water Development Act funding stream and a $5,000,000 AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) grant that is already under way. Staff said they would provide a more detailed listing of all grant applications and awards at a later presentation.
Coleman also discussed construction of the Banco Morales reservoir impoundment project, which he described as approximately 400,000,000 gallons of storage to hold excess capacity when available, and said work to reconstruct wells, upgrade microfiltration, reverse‑osmosis, electrical and control systems, and chemical storage is in progress.
No formal action or vote on financing was taken at the meeting; Coleman and staff said they will continue grant outreach and return with additional details as funding is secured.
