Elgin utility manager highlights wastewater reuse, urges residents to fix leaks

Joey Miller, the City of Elgin's Utility Systems Manager, told a city livestream that the city reuses wastewater for nonpotable uses and saved "right at 50,000,000 gallons" last year, and urged residents to fix leaks and avoid overwatering to protect the municipal supply.

Miller spoke on the 78621 live program hosted by Stacy Ford Osborne, the city's public information officer, saying Elgin's drinking water is pumped from the Krizo Wilcox Aquifer and requires additional treatment to remove iron and manganese. "Our water comes from underground from the aquifer of the Krizo Wilcox Aquifer," he said, adding the city applies multiple filtration and treatment steps beyond simple chlorination.

The city follows state regulatory parameters set by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Miller said, including storage and pump-capacity standards. He warned that when system pressure drops below a regulatory threshold — "if your water system drops below 20 psi, then you have to do a boil water notice" — public advisories and restrictions can follow. Miller said Elgin averages about 1.5 million gallons per day in summer use.

Miller described wastewater treatment and reuse as a major conservation tool. He said the wastewater plant reuses roughly 150,000 gallons a day for plant washdowns and other nonpotable purposes, and that the city's reuse programs amounted to about "50,000,000 gallons" saved last year. He emphasized that reused water is taken from treatment effluent and is not potable.

Explaining treatment steps, Miller said the plant uses primary treatment, aeration basins where microscopic organisms break down organics, solids-settling tanks, filtration and chlorination followed by dechlorination when required by permit. He said treated effluent is discharged to Little Sandy Creek, then Big Sandy Creek, and ultimately the Colorado River.

Miller also outlined infrastructure and resilience work prompted by the 2022 storm "Yuri," when some water towers sat idle and the city coordinated with TCEQ to confirm water safety. "We now have generators on all of its pertinent equipment," he said, noting wells and the treatment plant can run on backup power and that the city installed a new million-gallon storage tank with generator backup.

On household conservation, Miller pointed to commonplace waste such as letting a shower run for minutes before getting in, continuously running toilets and broken irrigation heads that spray at night. He recommended residents contact the city if they suspect a leak; the city's electronic meters can run data logs to identify continuous usage. "If you have a high water bill ... we can run a data log on it to see, do you have a continuous leak?" he said.

For residents seeking more information, Miller invited listeners to contact him or consult online resources including TCEQ's "Taking Care of Texas," the Texas Water Development Board and TEEX. He said he plans to begin offering local classes or workshops on conservation.

The program concluded with host Stacy Ford Osborne thanking Miller and reminding listeners that he is the city contact for water questions.