City Water Treatment Plant earns award for sixth straight year

For the sixth consecutive year, the City of San Marcos Water Treatment Plant received the  Texas Optimization Program Award from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the city announced Thursday. 

The honor sets the city’s water treatment plant among the top 1% of water treatment plants in Texas. 

San Marcos’ water treatment plant has been operated by the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority since 1999 and serves over 65,000 San Marcos residents and customers in Kyle, Buda, Goforth Special Utility District and Monarch Utilities, L.P. 

“This is truly a unique accomplishment for the SMWTP and the GBRA operations staff,” city  Director of Public Services Tom Taggart said in a statement. “It’s a testament to outstanding operational attention and institutional knowledge applied through admirable coordination by the plant operations staff.”

The Texas Optimization Program places emphasis on a list of performance-limiting factors through an assessment of plant design, operational procedures, maintenance practice and administrative policies, according to the city. The award’s goal is to remove possible pathogens from source water used for drinking water. 

“This award represents the hard work and dedication of some of the best water treatment operators in the state,” said Kasey Belote, GBRA plant manager. “Our operators are committed to maintaining exceptional water quality for the community and will continue to deliver excellent performance in all levels of service.”

The San Marcos Water Treatment Plant uses surface water from Canyon reservoir to trim pumping from the Edwards Aquifer by an average of 95 percent.