October is Disability Employment Awareness Month, which offers an opportunity to highlight a special connection between the two organizations. Goodwill Mission Services helps unemployed individuals prepare for the job search, many of them with learning or physical disabilities.

Pre-pandemic, work at the TecH2O primarily revolved around organizing family signature events, educational workshops, field trips, and customer audits and consultations to reduce water consumption. The TecH2O serves as El Paso Water’s premiere platform to educate El Pasoans on water management in the Chihuahuan Desert.

The recent end of spring river flows from Elephant Butte Reservoir signal the beginning of the maintenance transition for employees of EPWater’s two river water treatment plants. The Jonathan Rogers and the Robertson/Umbenhauer – aka the Canal Plant – water treatment plants are buzzing with activity as maintenance season gets underway.

It has been more than a year since El Paso Water swooped in to help build a home for a pair of burrowing owls during the construction of a stormwater improvement project at Thomas Manor Park Pond. The habitat built in the spring of 2019 proved to be successful. The pair immediately moved in, just in time for mating season, and several owlets were born. In a sad turn of events, it was discovered that two of the owls were killed at Thomas Manor Park Pond in July.

Water is not typically synonymous with the desert, but for El Paso Water, the two go hand in hand. The utility’s leadership is helping pave the way for EPWater to remain at the forefront of water reuse.

It happened so quickly that the significance didn’t dawn on the Public Service Board (PSB) until the annual election of officers was over. When the PSB elected its officers for 2020 in August, all three positions were filled by its female members.

El Paso Water wants to help you conserve water and at the same time save money. More time indoors means do-it-yourself home improvement projects are on the rise.

Residents of a Lower Valley community are once again welcoming the feel and smell of freshly watered grass at Thomas Manor Park after a recent transformation that will benefit the surrounding neighborhoods.

The Vice President of Strategic, Financial and Management Services was recently recognized as one of the university’s esteemed Gold Nugget Award recipients, which is awarded to alumni who have made exceptional contributions to their professions and community. Honored by the University of Texas at El Paso as a female pioneer in her field, Navarrete was also named a Woman of Impact by El Paso Inc. in 2016.

El Paso Water’s Willie the Water Drop is coming to a small screen near you, urging preschoolers to use water wisely at home. The short videos will feature Willie engaging with April Lopez, Water Conservation Specialist, immersing young viewers in conservation lessons, with plenty of positive reinforcement thrown in for good measure.

El Paso builders and developers can now complete basic utility work such as manhole installations and fire hydrant relocations that previously only El Paso Water crews were allowed to perform.

The Upson Drive Main Improvement Project will remove and replace the existing water and wastewater mains and service lines within the Sunset Heights Historic District. But the nature of the ground in this area presented engineers with a major obstacle.

Some customers have recently reached out to EPWater with concerns about their water having a musty taste and odor. In an effort to combat the recent mustiness, EPWater has increased the use of powdered activated carbon.

With the exception of some of the older ones, El Paso Water’s elevated water storage tanks are understated. But in far east El Paso, the 2.5 MG Ranchos Real Tank stands out from the rest.

El Paso Water launched the design of a new project to take treated Rio Grande water during plentiful years and use it to recharge a local aquifer.

At the height of the Coronavirus pandemic, many utility employees who perform services mostly unseen by the public had to adapt and innovate to support field and plant operations to keep the utility functioning.

Technology employed at El Paso Water’s Frontera Lift Station continues to draw the international spotlight – this time from the recent 2020 Water Environment Federation (WEF) Collections System Digital Conference.

A restoration of the Sunset Heights Pump Station and Reservoir was already part of El Paso Water’s capital improvement plan. After all, the facility built in the early 1920s is one of El Paso Water’s oldest structures. But then the earthquake happened.

As state and local leaders take steps to ease COVID-19 restrictions, Dr. Kristina Mena is helping to shape health guidance needed to reopen Texas and El Paso.

Before flushing wipes, face coverings or latex gloves, El Paso Water urges residents to consider the consequences. With more residents wearing personal protective equipment during the pandemic, EPWater employees are facing a spike in blockages that is seriously straining the city’s wastewater system.

On Monday April 20, six homes connected to the new Montana Vista Wastewater System, which will bring first-time wastewater service to nearly 800 homes in a first phase.

In the Chihuahuan Desert of El Paso, there is comfort in knowing that EPWater’s critical facilities are staffed and operational during the current health crisis. The utility provides safe drinking water that we all can trust, eliminating the need to purchase bottled water. 

Social-distancing guidelines were quickly implemented in early March, and customer services shifted online to reduce the risk of exposure, minimize the spread of the virus and protect the health and safety of employees and customers. With new safety protocols in place, EPWater moved to ensure critical facilities would keep taps flowing.

Shady, colorful desert plants dot landscapes across the city, where large, water-wasting lawns are no longer the standard. For nearly 30 years, El Pasoans have been doing their part to conserve our most precious resource in the Chihuahuan Desert.

There are some very hard workers at El Paso Water wastewater plants. They work without pay and without breaks. And they work their entire lives; no retirement for them. But they need our help protecting them.