The City of Henderson, Nevada, has completed a $100 million overhaul of its Water Reclamation Facility, adding treatment capacity, modernizing aging equipment and reinforcing infrastructure that is central to Southern Nevada's strategy for stretching a scarce water supply.
Key improvements include a new 12-million-gallon biological nutrient removal (BNR) basin, a secondary clarifier, sand filters, upgraded influent pumping and vacuum systems, backwash pump station improvements, headworks grit pipe replacements and alum pump upgrades.
Every gallon of reclaimed water that is returned into Lake Mead through return-flow credits allows Southern Nevada to take another gallon out from the Colorado River system
The investment goes beyond keeping pace with Henderson's growing population. The facility plays a critical role in protecting the city's water resources: every drop that goes down a drain is treated and returned to beneficial use, supporting the community's long-term water sustainability.
Reclaimed water — wastewater cleaned and treated to a level safe for irrigation, industrial cooling, dust control and water features — is put to work locally before any surplus leaves the city. The city reuses approximately 30% of its reclaimed water for irrigation at golf courses, a cemetery and Boulder Highway medians, and to supply the nine ponds at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. The remainder is conveyed to Lake Mead via the Las Vegas Wash, the main channel through which treated wastewater from across the Las Vegas Valley re-enters the reservoir. According to the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), the Wash receives flows from four reclamation facilities and contributes roughly 2% of the water entering the lake, with more than 200 million gallons moving through the system daily.
Water returned to Lake Mead generates "return-flow credits" administered by SNWA: for every gallon of reclaimed water sent back into the Colorado River system, the region is entitled to withdraw an equal volume for drinking water use. The scale of that recycling is significant. Approximately 40% of the water used across the SNWA service area is consumed indoors, and of that, around 99% is recycled, either through direct reuse or by being returned to Lake Mead for subsequent withdrawal. The practical effect is that treated wastewater cycles through the system multiple times, allowing one of the driest metro areas in North America to do far more with its water allocation than a simple use-and-discharge model would allow.
