HUTTO — Expanding the city’s Central Wastewater Treatment Plant could potentially recycle water clean enough for area data centers, but differences in filtration systems and their costs vary greatly.
That was the assessment City Council heard during a July 10 meeting when engineering firm Freese & Nichols presented filtration options for the treated water instead of simply washing it downstream.
The council also considered Hutto playground improvements and legal support for an ethics commission.
Regarding wastewater treatment, the engineering firm presented two filtration options to the council.
Cloth filters produce a lower quality effluent but still meet the permit limit, the council heard.
Ceramic-membrane filters produce a higher effluent quality but are costlier at more than $14 million higher than cloth filters. Implementation would potentially delay the schedule by more than 400 days.
The annual maintenance cost is about $500,000 more as well.
Hutto also needs to determine whether data centers and industries would pay for the upgrades and buy the water from the city.
“If you need the high-quality effluent that the ceramic membranes produce, then it’s $80 million for capital cost,” said Kendall King, a Freese & Nichols senior project adviser.
Mayor Mike Snyder noted that data centers coming to the area could benefit.
“Before we pump 2 to 3 million gallons of water a day into a creek while we’re figuring out how we can pump 2 to 3 million gallons of water a day to a data center from 40 miles away, while the (treatment plant) is literally half a mile away...how quickly can we get the numbers and get you guys going in that direction or not?” Snyder said.
When the plant was added to the capital-improvement project list two years ago, the data-center boom was just starting. Data centers and other industries can be water intensive, with the liquid used to cool the computers.
The engineers also recommended the city hire a construction manager at risk, a special type of project manager who oversees the initiative from design through finish.
No council action was taken, but the engineering firm returns July 17 to present more information.
Hutto Lake Park to get playground improvements
The council approved $46,610 for MWM DesignGroup to initiate an all-accessible playground at Hutto Lake Park, 805 Estate Drive.
The park features three smaller play areas with just a few log and boulder shapes for climbing. There is not a traditional play-scape at the park.
David Cazares, landscape architect with MWM DesignGroup, said his company will concentrate on a design that integrates play areas into a hillside to minimize landscaping.
