Because these water management plans require communities and businesses to reduce their overall water use, this can make regular operations for utility providers more complex. EPCOR has been able to adjust its operations accordingly, thanks to its diversified water sources — a mix of ground, river, storage, reclaimed and other surface water.
EPCOR continues to expand its work in water reclamation, too. Last year, EPCOR completed a US $48 million expansion of its Luke 303 Regional Water Reclamation Facility, which is adjacent to the Luke Air Force Base outside Phoenix. The facility will ultimately recharge up to eight million gallons a day of treated effluent back to the water cycle.
“We have increased the capacity of Luke 303 by two-thirds since 2021,” says Richard Obenshain, an EPCOR water resource analyst in Phoenix. “This will allow us to treat and recharge enough water annually to fill around 330 Olympic-size swimming pools.”
This increase in treatment capacity, along with improvements to other EPCOR facilities, is a key reason why EPCOR continues to surpass its standard of using or reusing at least 90% of treated effluent to recharge aquifers.