CUSD might be first to use recycled water

Treated sewer water considered for irrigation

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Clovis Unified School District may be the first agency to use purified waste water from the treatment facility under construction near Ashlan and McCall avenues.

The facility -- to be completed by the end of the year -- will be the city's first sewage treatment facility. It will produce 2.8 million gallons of purified water per day from water that goes down the city's drains, sinks and toilets. The water will meet state standards for drinking water although state laws bar sewage water from household sinks. Instead the water will come out of specially marked pipes for irrigation purposes only.

Local politicians, however, promise to sample the water when the facility is complete to prove its purity. The water goes through a highly advanced treatment process that includes disinfection with ultraviolet light.

"Technically you could drink it," assistant city engineer Lisa Koehn said.

Mayor Bob Whalen plans to do just that.

"When the sewer plant is up, I want to let you know that Jose, Nathan and I will be drinking," he said about his fellow Clovis City Council members Jose Flores and Nathan Magsig.

The city of Clovis approached Clovis Unified School District about using the treated water for irrigation at schools near the facility's pipe system. The schools include Dry Creek Elementary, Red Bank Elementary, Freedom Elementary, Bud Rank Elementary and the Reagan Educational Center, which is home to Clovis East High School, Reyburn Intermediate and Reagan Elementary.

The Reagan Educational Center would be the first to use the water because of its size and proximity to the treatment facility.

"They use a lot of water there because it's a large facility," Koehn said about the 160-acre complex.

The campus currently uses untreated canal water from the Fresno Irrigation District to water playfields and landscaping. City officials said the treated waste water, which isn't exposed to pesticides and pollution, is cleaner than runoff water and is already used in other Valley communities for the irrigation of parks, golf courses and housing developments.

"I don't think the issue is the board doesn't want to use recycled water," said Walt Byrd, Clovis Unified assistant superintendent of facilities. "We realize the water is pure. The issue is we need to know how much the water is going to cost ... Right now we have a fairly good rate with FID."

This summer the city plans to finish a cost analysis and report back to the district.

If the district agrees, the city hopes to get the district's allocation of surface water from the Fresno Irrigation District to be converted into drinkable water at the treatment facility.

"It's really a conservation effort," Byrd said.

The treatment facility was built to accommodate growth in the city's southeast. The city is planning a 3,000-acre development near the Reagan Educational Center called "Loma Vista." The development will eventually include parks, trails, a business center and about 30,000 residents.

The treatment facility will convert waste water from the new residents and businesses into a reusable resource. For now, the city will purify waste from other parts of the city until Loma Vista is built out.

The city is also installing a network of pipes to take recycled water to city parks, medians and housing developments such as Harlan Ranch in the northeast.

E-mail Gabriel Alexander at galexander@clovisindependent.com.