LRWRA

Our Past

In the past, not even the distant past, used water wasn’t treated. Until 1961, there wasn’t a single system to remove wastewater from homes or businesses, but rather a combination of strategies that all disposed of raw wastewater into the Arkansas River. Our first water reclamation facility, Adams Field Water Reclamation Facility, began service in 1961 with only primary treatment. In 1972, with the passage of the Clean Water Act, new regulations required new secondary treatment processes.

Our Present

Today, water that flows out of homes, workplaces, and even manufacturing facilities is our responsibility. At our three water reclamation facilities, we use a safe, natural process to treat this “used” water before returning it to the environment—in our case, the Arkansas River. The water released by LRWRA often exceeds the water quality standards of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Our process begins as wastewater is transported from homes and businesses through over 1,400 miles of public sewer piping, all maintained by LRWRA, to one of three water reclamation facilities. These facilities have the capacity to treat up to 56 million gallons of used water a day, not including the Peak Flow Attenuation Facility, which can store up to 61 million gallons of used and runoff stormwater when rainwater exceeds the maximum capacity of the treatment facilities.

We’re so committed to reducing waste that we take the organic sludge removed from treated water, and introduce it to another group of bacteria that ultimately produce methane, which we use to generate power for the Fourche Creek Water Reclamation Facility.