MF purple pipe to save potable water

January 16, 2013, 11:15 am by Adam Troxtell

Pipes to take treated effluent from the Marble Falls wastewater treatment plant to Johnson Park will be laid in the next few months, saving tens of thousands of gallons of potable water for resident use.

The bid for phase 1A of the construction project to lay the "purple pipe” was awarded by the City Council to low bidder Nelson-Lewis-Inc. in their meeting yesterday. The base bid approved was $106, 437, while an alternative bid of $128,937 was also approved. The first phase of the project will be used to irrigate the leash free zone in Johnson Park, while subsequent phases will take the pipe up Main Street to the skate park, down to Lakeside Park and back into Johnson Park. The ball field in Johnson Park will also be irrigated by type 1 effluent.

Marble Falls secured a permit to use type 1 effluent, which goes through a treatment program that makes it safe for contact but still unsafe for consumption, for irrigation from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) at the end of last year. City Engineer Todd Estes said the purple pipe will save between 80,000 and 100,000 gallons per day of potable water from being used for irrigation, meaning it can be used by city water customers.

"We use more water on that park than any other,” Director of Parks and Recreation Robert Moss said. "That potable water can go to people drinking it instead of irrigation.”

For the full story, see Friday’s Highlander.