Alamogordo, N.M. -- Federal water managers are in New Mexico this week to celebrate the 10th anniversary of a research center dedicated to pursuing technology that can turn brackish groundwater into usable water.
Officials with the Bureau of Reclamation will be in Alamogordo on Tuesday and Wednesday to mark the anniversary of the national desalination research facility. Experts from NASA, the U.S. Agriculture Department and the University of New Mexico also will be on hand.
The center is the only major research facility in the United States dedicated solely to the desalination of brackish and impaired groundwater.
One of its first projects was a water purifier that was used following hurricane Katrina to provide water for a regional hospital. The system was developed by a team of military and Bureau of Reclamation researchers.