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Possible Bastrop facility has commercial potential
BASTROP — The second phase of the city’s much-needed wastewater treatment plant could do something the current 2-million-gallons-a-day facility doesn’t — make money.
City Council will consider whether to try something new with the upcoming expansion by contracting ReUse Engineering Inc., a company with high-end technology that can turn wastewater into marketable products and save money on construction, officials said.
“Sometimes we feel like the sky is falling because of the amount of development that is coming our way. I continue to say I don’t want to bankrupt the city, and we have to be really conservative and careful about how we plan our future uses,” City Manager Silvia Carrillo-Trevino told council members at a meeting Dec. 17.
She added, “ReUse is a company that has turned the wastewater industry on its head, essentially, and I wanted the council to hear the presentation not just about how wastewater is redefined but also how we monetize certain things.”
ReUse Engineering uses membrane technology to filter water to a level where it is safe for residential irrigation, farming or industrial uses, according to the company. Randall Nelson, the company’s chief operating officer, said the same system is used to purify drinking water by large companies, based on the size of the filters.
For a treatment plant, the pores in the membrane mesh are smaller than a coronavirus molecule.
“With most conventional plants, what you get out of it is water that neither you or I would want to drink,” Nelson said. “It still has some contaminants in it, it still has some viruses, still has some bacteria even though they do their best to chlorinate it or somehow disinfect it. It still has some small measure of things in there, pathogens or whatever, that we don’t want to ingest. But with the membrane system we take out all the pathogens.”
The city currently has three wastewater treatment plants. The newest came online in May, adding 2 million gallons a day, or MGD, and bringing the city’s total capacity to 6 MGD. A second phase of design and construction originally was planned to increase capacity at plant No. 3 by another 6-8 MGD.
The increase is necessary to meet the demands of Bastrop’s exponential growth, as well as Elon Musk’s SpaceX facility starting in 2026. Carrillo- Trevino said preliminary estimates for the expansion, compiled before she came onboard, indicated the cost for the larger plant could range up to $150 million.
Nelson said the technology his company uses would allow for a facility just one-fourth the size of a traditional wastewater- treatment plant. He told the council in addition to savings on construction, his plant could be online in as little as 12 months.
But the council was equally interested in what would come out of the proposed facility. Nelson said some cities have used the purified water from this treatment as a resource to ease the demand for potable water by selling it at a lower rate to industrial and irrigation clients. Others have used it to lessen city costs by watering municipal parks and sports fields.
The solids which are removed from the water can also be monetized, according to the COO. The plant presses sludge into a dry cake, and adding lime creates a Class A fertilizer that some companies will purchase for resale to agriculture clients.
Nelson noted traditional wastewater treatment plants produce sludge that has to regularly be trucked to a depository for disposal. His technology provides the opportunity for the city to accept and process sludge from other nearby treatment plants for a fee, taking advantage of excess plant capacity while supporting regional waste management needs.
“I’m telling you that your wastewater treatment plant is a water resource center, and it can be monetized for the city in a number of ways. But we have to be able to get it there to reclaim that as a resource,” Nelson said.
The technology ReUse Engineering utilizes eliminates the need for clarifiers, equalization basins and sludge digestors. It also doesn’t use chlorine for disinfection.
Nelson said the cost would be less due to the smaller size of the facility footprint and the speed with which it can be built, but the higher cost of the equipment would offset some of the savings. He said the final cost is generally 15% to 20% lower than a traditional wastewater- treatment station.
Council members asked the city manager to schedule a work session to continue discussing water needs. Carrillo-Trevino said the city needs to determine how large the capacity needs to be for the expansion so Nelson can present an estimate.
Overall, the city’s leaders seemed enthusiastic about ReUse Engineering’s presentation.
“It’s just a responsible way to move forward because when we know better, we have to do better,” said Councilwoman Cynthia Meyer. “This is pretty exciting to see future green things that are good, that don’t do more harm than what we’ve been doing.”
“But with the membrane system we take out all the pathogens.”
— Randall Nelson, ReUse Engineering Inc.
