Arlington Water Utilities' 2022 Report Features Updates on $112.5 Million Treatment Plant Renovation

By Traci Peterson, Arlington Water Utilities

Posted on March 08, 2023, March 08, 2023

The Arlington Water Utilities 2022 Year-End Report is online now on the department’s website. The report to residents features updates on a year of progress in strengthening the City of Arlington’s water and sanitary sewer infrastructure. Arlington Water Utilities is just over a year into a $112.5 million renovation of the Pierce Burch Water Treatment Plant at 1901 Lakewood Drive. The new report features some of the monthly progress photos being taken with drones. Those photos show massive new tanks that will store 8 million gallons of finished water at the plant. In fall 2022, the contractor on the project, Archer Western, LLC, poured more than 5,000 cubic yards of concrete to construct the bases to the two underground clearwells on the southeast corner of the site. That is about 10 million pounds of concrete per base.

 In addition, the City of Arlington celebrated two major milestones in May 2022 – the completion of the renovation of the Lake Arlington Raw Water Pump Station and the kickoff of construction on a new laboratory and maintenance building. The City’s two Water Treatment Plants produced more than 21 billion gallons of water in 2022. During that time, Arlington Water Utilities laboratory employees also collected and tested 6,131 samples from the treatment plants and throughout the city’s distribution system.

 The Year-End Report also features updates on the following key performance measures for the department.

•  A total of 89,362 Water Utilities customers had remotely read water meters as of January 2023. More new meters are installed each month. Customers with remotely read meters can view their daily and hourly water usage numbers, as well as past bills and payments, by visiting ArlingtonTX.gov/KnowYourH2O.
•  Crews cleaned 41.75 percent of the City’s public sewer mains (size 6”-15”), clearing City sewer lines of roots, grease buildup and other debris. That equates to about 420 miles. Regular maintenance of sanitary sewer lines prevents sewer backups in neighborhoods or homes. Twenty percent is the goal.
•  City of Arlington civil engineers designed 32,020 feet of water and sewer mains in 2022, saving the city $544,340 in design consultant costs. The goal is 30,000 feet.
•  The Arlington City Council authorized $3,839,559 from the Water/Wastewater Rate Stabilization Fund for FY 23 to be used to cover cost increases in chemicals used to treat raw water. This action prevented those costs from being included in 2023 rate increases for customers.

 To view the online Year-End report, please visit ArlingtonTX.gov/water.