SOUTH JORDAN, Utah — According to the U-S Geological Survey, Utah is the second highest water user in the nation per person.
While that number is up for debate based on how states calculate per capita water use, it’s no secret that we’re the second most arid and our water use is rising with population growth.
South Jordan City is experimenting with a new facility to turn the water we waste into water we drink.
The source of what comes into the Pure SoJo Water Purification plant is the South Valley Sewer District Water Reclamation Center.
The water is pretreated that first comes from your shower drain, your sink and even your toilet.
Raymond Garrison, The Public Works Director for South Jordan City, explained this is the first of its kind in the state and the nation.
“We have a very extensive sampling plan that tests all the way through each process of this treatment train,” Garrison said. “There's been no hits on Giardia or Cryptosporidium. If there was the process removes it.
In the first of four steps, the pretreated water gets hit with ozone and is pressed through activated carbon.
Second, it goes through ultrafiltration, through fibers smaller than human hair.
It is then sifted through granular activated carbon and finally, anything left is killed with UV.
It has taken two years to get to the point of tasting.
“The state has very strict standards that they had us follow and meet before they would give us his taste testing permit and we've met those standards," Garrison explained.
The city hopes to build a full-scale plant with the same treatment process scaled up a lot larger to treat the water and supplement South Jordan's water supply distribute it throughout the city.
“A lot of people in the valley are watching this,” Garrison said. “A lot of people down south in Utah are watching this process. They're watching South Jordan to help develop regs get this approved, and others will want to do something similar.”
South Jordan's pilot program will continue for at least 5 more years before the process of upscaling can begin.
