Here's how the city of Corpus Christi wants to use its treated wastewater

The city of Corpus Christi is reviving a program to sell treated wastewater effluent for nonpotable purposes, such as irrigation.

Intended for commercial customers, the city’s program would be a subscription billing service for approved applicants, who could load their trucks with the effluent at the Oso Wastewater Treatment Plant’s fill station.

Potential uses could include irrigation and construction site dust mitigation, according to a presentation delivered to the City Council on Tuesday.

The Oso Wastewater Treatment Plant generates about 8 million gallons of treated wastewater effluent each day, said Mike Murphy, chief operating officer of water utilities.

“It's obviously a way we can save the precious water that we have in our reservoirs,” said City Councilman Mike Pusley, who has been a proponent of revisiting a similar program popular in the 1980s.

Participation requires commercial customers to submit an application.

If it's approved, a permit would be issued, enabling companies to bring their trucks to the Oso Wastewater Treatment Plant for loading by an on-site operator, according to the presentation.

A flat rate of $50 per month would allow a customer to bring a 1,000-gallon truck to the facility for filling as often as desired.

The flat rate would rise incrementally for trucks with higher capacity, city officials said.

The program is expected to launch March 1.

Whether a similar system could be tailored for industrial processes is in discussions, said City Manager Peter Zanoni.