Public Invited to Comment on Scalping Plant Study

Sugar Land, TX - The final public hearing for a project to study the feasibility of small-scale satellite scalping plants in Sugar Land and its Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) will be held Thursday, May 10, at 5:30 p.m., at Sugar Land City Hall, 2700 Town Center Blvd. North.

Scalping plants are small wastewater treatment plants that remove liquid from wastewater lines and treat the water to standards acceptable for lakes and irrigation. The waste is then returned to wastewater lines and sent to treatment plants.

Scalping plants that produce more than a million gallons per day are currently used in other areas of the country.

Sugar Land will study the possibility of utilizing scalping plant processes on a smaller scale to provide water for irrigation and amenity lakes.  More than 3 million gallons of groundwater per day are used to fill amenity lakes and irrigate common areas (i.e., parks, green spaces, rights-of-way and golf courses) in Sugar Land and its ETJ.  This is more than 10 percent of the City’s total water demand. The study will focus on using the technology to treat volumes of 50,000-100,000 gallons per day, daily volumes used by lake owners and non-potable well owners.

The Fort Bend Subsidence District requires 30 percent of Sugar Land’s total water needs to be supplied by a non-groundwater source by 2014. Small scalping plants may provide a cost-effective way to help meet the subsidence district’s mandate.

The study is being funded in part by a Texas Water Development Board regional planning grant, which requires several opportunities for public input.  All feedback will be incorporated in the final report.

Comments and questions can be e-mailed to cspencer@sugarlandtx.gov or faxed to (281) 275-2465.