City Profiles / Large Cities / El Paso, TX

El Paso, Texas

Green Space

In March 2007, El Paso's City Council adopted an Open Space Master Plan with the proposal to link green space hubs in a system called a bionetwork, made up of the city's mountains, desert and Rio Grande river. More than a hundred residents contributed their input to the plan. The city is also home to the country's largest urban park, Franklin Mountains State Park, covering 37 square miles, all within the city limits of El Paso.

Water Quality and Conservation

El Paso, in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert with an annual rainfall of about 8.8 inches, increased its water supply by 25 percent with a desalination plant created to treat brackish water. With a concentrated water conservation plan, El Paso Water Utilities aims to reuse 15 percent of its wastewater by 2012 for park, golf course and grassland irrigation. Citizens have reduced individual water use every year for more than a decade.