Sustainable Design in Water Treatment: Producing Clean Water for a Green Future

The City of Austin is committed to achieving community sustainability while reducing the cost of municipal operations to City ratepayers. Meeting these commitments requires that City Departments adopt new methods of designing, constructing, and operating municipal facilities. The Austin Water Utility is currently engaged in planning and executing new strategies to achieve sustainability goals. The design approach for the new water treatment plant includes planning, evaluating, and designing sustainable building elements. Life-cycle costs are being developed for these elements to allow the City to select those approaches that achieve sustainability goals while also maintaining long-term budget constraints. The elements that are being addressed include incorporating LEED elements into the design, optimizing energy and consumables usage, stormwater management techniques, and endangered species habitat protection. By incorporating sustainable design elements and operations strategies, the City can practice advanced water conservation techniques, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and minimize their impact to endangered species.