Wastewater is quite the unsightly scene. However, plans to treat it and send it to our faucets are underway.
"Most of our water supplies are a long way away. It takes a lot of money and effort to get the water to Lubbock. So it makes sense that once we get that water here, we reuse that water," said Aubrey Spear, Water Resources Director.
He said the Southeast Water Reclamation Plant in Lubbock is advancing its capabilities.
"Our plans are to upgrade the wastewater plant to the point where 100 percent of our wastewater is stream quality," Spear said.
It's a 50 million dollar project. It includes geographical studies and new technologies. Spear said the cost will pay off.
"Today it may not seem like we're saving money because everybody sees the rates going up. It will save money in the future if we're preparing now for the reuse of our water," Spear said.
Getting wastewater ready to use again is no easy task.
Otis Shadden, Operator at the Southeast Water Reclamation Plant, said, "We take wastewater or sewage into the plant and run it through a biological process. At the end we have a good quality effluent that we use for a couple other purposes."
About 22 million gallons of wastewater are recycled at the Southeast Water Reclamation Plant each day but that's not distributed for drinking water.
"The decade of need when we will have to reuse our wastewater for drinking will probably be out there 20, 30, 40 years from now," Spear said.
The city is not at the point of drinking wastewater, but recycling it to use for other purposes, like agriculture, is still beneficial.
"If we can provide them water with our wastewater that's been treated and keep them away from potable water supply we're actually helping ourselves saving the good water for drinking," Spear said.
"There's nearly nothing left in the water. It's more or less a mindset that we as citizens have to get ourselves into that we're going to have to reuse the water at some point," Shadden said.
Lubbock would certainly not be the first city to reuse its water in a way that takes a little getting used to.
