In booming southwest Utah, a new wastewater reuse plant will boost the arid region’s water supplies

At the bottom of orange sandstone and black basalt cliffs, creeks that flow through communities west of Zion National Park converge in the Virgin River — the lifeblood of booming southwest Utah.

Soon water flushed down toilets and drained from dishwashers will also flow through pipes to this spot, known as Confluence Park, where a new wastewater treatment plant will boost the scarce water supply for rapidly growing Washington County.

“It increases the degree of robustness that we have, as far as water scarcity, through years like this, where there’s no snow on the mountains,” Mike Chandler, superintendent of the Ash Creek Special Service District, said during a tour of the facility Wednesday.

The plant will also help ensure the area has “reliable water sources for the future,” Chandler added.

The over $50 million dollar Confluence Park Water Reclamation Facility and reuse pump station will have the capacity to treat up to 1.5 million gallons of wastewater per day from the communities of La Verkin, Toquerville, Hurricane, Virgin and Leeds.

The facility is one part of the Washington County Water Conservancy District’s big plans to develop an interconnected water reuse system across the county to meet growing demands over the next two decades.

Without reducing use or finding new water sources, demand could outpace supply within the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

“Seventy five percent of our future water will be coming through conservation or reuse,” Zach Renstrom, general manager of the water district, told The Tribune.

The district aims to add more than 24,000 acre-feet of water through the reuse system by 2042. An acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons.

The plant, which uses technology that’s first of its kind in Utah and was developed in the Netherlands, will treat the wastewater to a level that allows farmers, residents and towns to safely use it on their crops, gardens and soccer fields, Chandler said.

In exchange, the district will receive higher quality water that farmers are currently using on fields and instead treat it for drinking water.

“This gives us an opportunity to make an exchange with them and keeps our costs low,” Chandler said.

The districts also found other ways to cut costs through the plant’s design and technology.

Its location in a low lying area where water already naturally flows downstream allows them to capture wastewater from surrounding communities without pumping it uphill.

“With wastewater, the cheapest way to get it here is just gravity flow,” Chandler said.

The facility, thanks to its technology, also uses 75% less land and 60% less electricity compared to traditional treatment facilities, according to the districts.

The project was funded with cash reserves, American Rescue Plan Act funds and bonds, Chandler said. Impact fees on new development cover a good chunk of the financing, he added.

“Growth needs to pay for growth,” he said. “That’s been the consistent message we receive from all of our users and existing residents, and so most of this will be paid over years as new homes come on.”

Tucked below homes and near a nature park, the facility also incorporates design and technology features meant to reduce impacts on the surrounding environment and nearby residents.

The districts have invested in odor control technologies and enclosed facilities to mitigate sound.

“We hope that we have no more than a mild hum that people hear even as they drive by,” Chandler said.

They also considered night sky protection. “We have downward facing lighting to try to keep the night sky beautiful,” Chandler said, “as we have, regularly, people coming through, not only for bird watching, rock climbing, but appreciating the night sky down here in Confluence Park.”

The districts will host a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new facility on Feb. 2.