By Cassie McClure
Published in the Las Cruces Bulletin 5/7/2021
The West Mesa Industrial Park Wastewater Treatment Facility (Facility), operated by Las Cruces Utilities (LCU), treats approximately 150,000 gallons of wastewater per day. There’s plenty of equipment that helps those thousands of gallons get processed, and over time, that equipment needs to get replaced.
“Those aeration blowers were originally purchased and installed new at the Jacob Hands Wastewater Treatment Facility in 1983 and 1984,” Joaquin Murillo, LCU assistant plant manager, said. “They supplied air for our Jacob Hands Wastewater Treatment Facility Aeration Basin up until the year 2000 when LCU added a second aeration basin to the process.”
During that time, the aeration blowers were swapped out for four new natural gas aeration blowers. The old ones were refurbished and repurposed to supply air for the West Mesa Industrial Park Wastewater Treatment Facility. The motor was pulled out, inspected, and repaired as part of the preventive maintenance program.
Located at 999 Crawford Road, the Facility is authorized by the New Mexico Environment Department to treat up to 400,000 gallons per day of domestic and industrial wastewater, so it’s ready for the growing Las Cruces Innovation & Industrial Park (LCIIP).
The Facility not only serves the LCIIP but also serves the Las Cruces International Airport. However, most of the waste currently comes from the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility.
Wastewater flows in and spends 42 days going through the clean-up process using a synthetically lined impoundment treatment system – which are the holding ponds that the birds in the area love. Then, the clear effluent is discharged on 90 acres of irrigated property.
LCU Customer Central can be reached at 575-541-2111 from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. LCU provides services to approximately 100,000 Las Cruces residents and businesses.
Caption:
Photo: Joaquin Murillo, LCU assistant plant manager, stands next to the motor to give a sense of its size. These blowers help the process to service the growing industrial park.