EP WATER-FT BLISS IR CASE STUDY

The El Paso, TX community is working with U.S. Army Garrison – Fort Bliss (Fort Bliss) to mutually address community infrastructure that impacts the missions of the installation and its critical training facilities. This effort is designing projects to reach toward full mission assurance while also enhancing the readiness of the community.

The concept of mission “resilience” is important, but the real goal in support of the National Defense Strategy should be mission “assurance”. Readiness and warfighting lethality depend on the ability to project power in the interest of national security. Cyber threats, direct kinetic attacks, accidents, floods, wildfires, storms, earthquakes, and aging infrastructure systems all threaten the ability of a military installation to accomplish its mission and a local government to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens. Jointly addressing these threats is a key element in the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation’s (OLDCC) Installation Readiness (IR) program.

El Paso Water retained SONRI to develop a partnership with the City of El Paso and El Paso County to seek an OLDCC IR study grant in 2022. The project studied the water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure in the El Paso region; and began design on critical upgrades or replacements for infrastructure that support the force projection and training missions of the U.S. Army on Fort Bliss and the McGregor Range. 

In July 2024, El Paso Water was awarded a follow-on OLDCC IR grant. Combined with a higher than required local match, OLDCC’s funds are paying for the 100% design of a critical wastewater lift station that carries 100% of the effluent from Fort Bliss. This project will improve the reliability of service and will also lay the groundwork for a future tie-in to a second wastewater treatment plant, offering service redundancy. The 100% “shovel ready” design was delivered in September 2025.

The grant also funded two planning projects:

• Development of an Emergency Communications Protocol between El Paso Water, Fort Bliss, and the privatized water provider for the installation. Since El Paso Water provides 26% of the water consumed on Fort Bliss, and 100% of the water for the mission-critical McGregor Range, this project will be an important step towards faster service restoration in the case of interruptions.
• Development of a training curriculum and exercise to improve coordination between the utility and installation in stormwater emergencies. While rainfall in the region is scarce, when storms hit the Franklin Mountains the water rushes down into the City of El Paso and Fort Bliss. This new training will improve coordination and communication in responding to this type of mission threat.

SONRI helped manage the first grant and execute the study project. As the Project Coordinator of the second grant, the SONRI Team:

• Provided our one-of-a-kind IR Grant Partner Cost Tracking and Reporting Tool to support grant budget and activity monitoring;
• Supported El Paso Water staff in all aspects of grant management and reporting;
• Provided quality assurance/quality control oversight of the Study Contractors to ensure their final products support mission assurance; and
• Provided mission subject matter expert input into the project to ensure that the focus is on support of military mission readiness and assurance.

Results

• The lift station design will position the utility to seek Defense Community Infrastructure Program (DCIP) funding in FY26 to put the project into construction as quickly as possible.
• The planning efforts will carry additional, intangible benefits of building relationships and trust at the Action Officer level for both the utility and Fort Bliss, improving future communications and coordination in emergency situations.

This project, paired with a successful Intergovernmental Support Agreement partnership, is promoting an ever-increasing degree of communication and cooperation between Fort Bliss and the defense communities who host it. SONRI is proud to play a key role in this project!