Water Talk News
Members of City Council, Water Commission and the Water Services staff attended a tour at Scottsdale Water Campus on Wednesday, June 29, to see their advanced water treatment process first-hand.
Brian Biesemeyer, Executive Director of Scottsdale Water, laid out the 25-year history of the water campus and its world-class advanced water treatment pilot project for Direct Potable Reuse (DPR). Reclaimed water undergoes an advanced treatment process - ultra-filtration, reverse osmosis and ultra-violet light - prior to recharging the aquifer using injection wells.
City Council Members Jim McCarthy, Miranda Sweet, Regina Salas and Khara House joined Water Commission members Robert Dilday, Kurt Riegelman and John Nauman and staff to tour the state of the art advanced-treatment facilities, with a special introduction from Scottsdale’s Mayor, David Ortega. Members from WateReuse Association also presented the range of options to consider in advanced treatment, based upon each municipalities’ unique conditions and requirements.
The Scottsdale Water Campus hosts a pilot DPR facility; the first in Arizona, following the AZ Pure Water Brew DPR demonstration truck that purified reclaimed water for beer competitions in 2018. While DPR for general public use is not yet available, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is currently writing rules and regulations to allow for full-scale DPR facilities starting in 2024.