The water won't be clean enough to drink, but if the pilot study holds up, eventually the district could be "scalping" one million gallons per day of would-be sewer water to feed freeway landscaping, industrial operations and maybe even a Major League Soccer stadium field.

"We're a desert state. We have to save water for the [next] generations," says Nancy Groberg, the district's general manager.

"We never just look 20 years out. We look 50 years. Now we're looking 70 years."

The membrane bioreactor plant - it could be operational as soon as 2009 - would be one of the first in Utah. The technology needs a much smaller footprint than a conventional sewer-treatment facility and requires only five to 10 hours per week of human supervision. The rest of the work is done by computers - and aerobic bacteria.

A miniature version of the facility now is processing "black" water behind the district's offices in an electric blue, 8-by-20-foot trailer. The test will run for three months before the district determines if its effluent can be safely and reliably treated.

"It's looking pretty good for people who don't know what they're doing but are more than willing to learn," Groberg proclaims.

Her agency has been only a sewage collector - not processor - since 1985. The district sends 5 million gallons per day to the South Valley Water Reclamation Facility in West Jordan, a plant that also serves four other government agencies.

Eventually, a membrane plant could be expanded to handle all the wastewater SSID collects. The agency has kept a close eye over the past year's controversy in Riverton that forced South Valley Sewer District to agree to build a membrane bioreactor instead of a traditional staged-aeration sewer plant. SSID is pursuing water reuse - not only to conserve water and benefit the environment, but to be ready for future demands.

And Sandy Suburban officials don't want their customers to be surprised.

The agency hired Dan Jones & Associates to gauge public sentiment about a water-reuse project among the 40,000 residents it serves in Sandy, White City and parts of unincorporated Salt Lake County. A telephone poll begins later this month.

They also plan to hold open houses.

"We want [the community] to help make the decision," says SSID attorney Tracy Cowdell.

The district expects to be able to build the plant without increasing its service rates. The cost of a several million-dollar facility would be offset by selling the treated water and reducing the fees SSID pays for sewage treatment.

The water will be more expensive than culinary water, but eventually, the district expects rates to be competitive as the cost of municipal water continues to rise.

Already, the reusable water has some prospective buyers. Purple pipe would have to be laid for the secondary, or irrigation, water to reach customers. The district is building a delivery system from scratch.

Sandy City, which will have to agree to let SSID use its water rights for the reuse project to proceed, would like to use the product on its golf course as well as landscaping planned at the 9000 South and 10600 South Interstate-15 exits.

Real Salt Lake is interested in laying purple pipe to its soccer stadium, being built at 9256 S. State St. and expected to open fall 2008.

The stadium will be "an environmentally friendly place that is going to set an example for the valley," says RSL spokesman Eric Gelfand, adding that the team is looking at energy-efficient lighting, renewable power sources and recycling.

"It's something that Dave [Checketts, RSL owner] is very, very passionate about. The field isn't the only thing that's going to be green at the stadium."

In Utah, the nation's second driest state with the second highest water use per person, reuse projects are inevitable, says Dennis Strong, director of the Utah Division of Water Resources.

"The only thing that stops us from using it today is the fact that there's less expensive options," Strong says. "At some time, it will be competitive."

rwinters@sltrib.com