The city of Rosenberg was recently awarded the Bob Derrington Reclamation Award by the Water Environment Association of Texas for the Seabourne Creek Nature Park Reclaimed Water System Project at the Texas Water Awards Program held in San Antonio.

The Bob Derrington Reuse Award is awarded to cities that strongly advocate and understand the beneficial use of treated effluent water and water conservation. The City of Rosenberg recently completed its sixth project in a series of reclaimed water facility and pipeline infrastructure improvements over the last 10 years. The Seabourne Creek Reclaimed Water System uses over 40,000 linear feet of 4-inch to 10- inch pipelines, tertiary wastewater treatment, a 500,000-gallon earthen storage pond, cloth media filter units and a four-pump skid to treat and distribute up to 280,000 gallon per day of reclaimed water. 

The system currently serves an annual average of 170,000 gallons per day of reclaimed water to sports ball fields, high school fields, parks and trails, a duck pond, and even helps sustain an artificially created wetlands and native prairie attraction. The Seabourne Creek Nature Park uses reuse water as sprinkled irrigation in addition to drop structures for filling ponds and an artificial wetland. Also, over 25,000 linear feet of 6-inch to 10-inch reclaimed water distribution piping has been extended out of the park limits to serve commercial customers.

Using reuse water is a major component of the city’s overall strategy to reduce its reliance on groundwater in accordance with the Fort Bend Subsidence District groundwater reduction mandates and to achieve the city’s plans of overall water conservancy and sustainability. The City has invested over $3.5 million to construct, operate, and maintain this reclaimed water system over the last 10 years. This effort has proven that treated wastewater can be used for a variety of sustainable ecological, amenity, and practical uses.

For more information about the City’s Water Utilities Department, visit the website at rosenbergtx.gov/water, or call 832-595-3400.

Pictured: City of Rosenberg Utilities Director Heriberto “Eddie” De Leon accepts The Bob Derrington Reclamation Award on behalf of the City of Rosenberg. 

About the Bob Derrington Reuse Award: The Bob Derrington Reuse Award is named after the visionary and innovative Odessa Texas Utility Manager who, in the 1980s, expanded Odessa’s existing water reuse program. As a strong advocate for reuse long before it was popular, Bob Derrington understood that the beneficial use of treated effluent and water conservation would not only increase water supplies for Odessa but help develop the expansion of reuse in Texas.