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Feature wateronline.com ■ Water Online The Magazine 10 utility $6 million when they start the IPR project. "The DPR gives us a high volume of water at a very low cost, so we wanted to do it as quickly as possible," explained Daniel Nix, utilities operations manager for Wichita Falls. "But with DPR we have a 66 to 70 percent recovery rate because we lose some of the water in the treatment process. With IPR we will recoup almost 100 percent of the wastewa- ter effluent, although it would be subject to evaporation for the hottest few months." Educating The Public In both Big Spring and Wichita Falls, gaining community support for DPR wasn't as difficult as some expected. Despite the "yuck factor" often associated with water recycling, both communities were mostly supportive of the projects from the beginning. It was the dire drought conditions that convinced people that DPR was necessary. "In West Texas we have a better appreciation of water than other parts of the country," he said. "We still had some who were concerned, but most people were OK with it once we provided them with information. We held public meet- ings, we did news releases, we did television and radio, and we went around to civic clubs and did talks." Education was also key in Wichita Falls. They created a video about the DPR project, which features utility represen- tatives, doctors, and experts from local universities talking about the disinfection process and the safety of drinking recycled water. "The video was met with quite a bit of success," said Nix. "We brought the media into the fold very early, we told them every step of the way what we were doing, and they've been getting the word out. Since we brought this treatment plant online, the feedback has been that the water tastes better than the lake water we were working with before." Regulatory Challenges Because there aren't any other examples of DPR in the U.S., permitting and regulating these new facilities presented a few challenges. "The state of Texas, which is no different from any other state, does not have regulations and rules for DPR because no one has done it," explained Nix. "So we had to work with the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to develop guidelines from scratch, and that took some time." For both Wichita Falls and Big Spring, extensive testing and verification was required and will continue to be required for the next several years. While there was little precedent in terms of recycled water regulations, the Clean Water Act did assist indirectly in making a DPR facility possible. "The broad and far-reaching regulations from 40 years ago are what make this possible today," he said. "The Clean Water Act made changes to the way wastewater must be treated and turned into a very high quality water source. We sampled our wastewater effluent and com- pared it to 97 drinking water standards. With the excep- tion of three components it was already up to drinking water standards before it was even treated." The effluent missed the mark on levels of the disinfec- tion byproduct trihalomethane (THM), which was recti- fied by changing the process at the wastewater treatment plant, and also nitrates and microbes, which were both corrected by the advanced treatment process at the waste- water recycling facility. What's Next For DPR? With two DPR facilities now operating in the U.S., both Nix and Grant are confident that the verification and regulation process will get easier for their plants and other future DPR plants that may open. Already DPR is picking up steam throughout the Western U.S. The city of Brownwood, TX, has approved a DPR project with the TCEQ but has not started construction because of public backlash. El Paso, TX, which has had an IPR aquifer recharge project for many years, has also approached the TCEQ about the possibility of moving to DPR. In California, multiple IPR plants are in operation, and there are significant efforts under way to better understand and form regulations around DPR applications. Nix has received calls from those interested in learning more about DPR from all over the world. "We've had people call from other parts of the U.S., Israel, Australia, and the United Kingdom," he said. "Once Big Spring and Wichita Falls are up and running for a while, we are going to prove to the world that this is a viable water resource. DPR is just going to continue to grow." Laura Martin is the associate editor for Water Online. She is responsible for creating and managing engaging and relevant content on a variety of water and wastewater industry topics. Her background is in print and digital journalism, and she has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Michigan State University. She can be reached at lmartin@wateronline.com. The Cypress Water Treatment Plant in Wichita Falls, TX, treats wastewater effluent to potable water quality. This is then mixed in with raw water and treated using conventional drinking water treatment.