Facilities
WEST Center facilitates innovative research and technology development to ensure sustainable water supplies that protect and promote environmental and human health. Critical to WEST’s success is the partnership between the University of Arizona, the private sector, utilities, and the community at large.
​A team of University of Arizona engineers and scientists is developing a solar-powered desalination system that combines several types of technologies – including concentrated solar power, photovoltaics and membrane distillation – to recover water from these concentrated waste streams with maximum efficiency. The process uses less energy at a lower cost, and it could provide more water for resource-scarce inland regions such as Arizona.
The Treatment Division operates and maintains the treatment facilities that receive, treat, and dispose of over 62 million gallons per day (MGD) of sanitary sewage. Two major facilities handle sewage from the metropolitan Tucson area, and five facilities serve remote areas scattered throughout several areas of eastern Pima County.
University of Arizona Labs
Labs from different UofA departments are part of the WateResilience program:
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- Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering
- Department of Environmental Science
- Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering