AWWA REUSE52124

San Marcos, Texas, nestled between Austin and San Antonio, offers many resources to the community: natural springs that feed the San Marcos River; a popular state university; a strong, well managed local economy; and a high quality wastewater effluent. The City recently approached and resolved how they would apply a monetary value to the wastewater effluent, including a commodity charge. The newly expanded San Marcos 9.0 million gallons per day (MGD) Advanced Tertiary Wastewater Treatment Plant is a state-of-the-art facility that produces some of the highest quality effluent in the state of Texas. Since coming on line last year, the quality of the effluent has consistently been better than permit limits require. The high level of treatment and a voluntary upgrade to UV disinfection were part of the City's commitment to preserving the water quality of the San Marcos River. One of the indirect dividends to the community for their investment in the treatment facility has been the availability of 3.6 MGD, at a minimum, of high quality effluent at a location convenient to the areas of growth. In this region of the state, where use of groundwater is discouraged and surface water is becoming less available and more costly, the effluent is becoming a marketable commodity. Applications of reuse from turf irrigation to augmenting the potable water supply have been considered by the City. An industrial reuse application has been the first to materialize. The City will provide the majority of their currently available effluent to American National Power, an international power co-generation company that is building the Hays Energy Project, a 1100 megawatt (MW) combined cycle gas burning plant south of the City. An initial step in the City committing to this project was setting the rates for the reuse water and for receiving the wastewater from the co-generation plant. This paper documents San Marcos' basis for setting the rates and the market value of the effluent. Includes 7 references, figures.