Conway Corporation breaks ground on new wastewater treatment plant

Conway Corporation recently broke ground on the Tupelo Bayou Wastewater Treatment Plant, a new facility on Lollie Bottom Road in West Conway.

The new plant and related system improvements, including line work and a pump station, will replace the city’s current Stone Dam Wastewater Treatment Plant.

“This project replaces an aged treatment plant with a new facility which can be expanded to accommodate future growth,” said Conway Corporation Chief Executive Officer Richie Arnold. “It is ideally situated to become the only treatment plant the city will need if it becomes uneconomical to continue operations at the Tucker Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.”

The project is funded by a $70 million loan made by the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC).

The Tupelo Bayou Wastewater Treatment Plant will feature advanced treatment technology that includes an activated sludge treatment system with innovative additions such as ultraviolet disinfection — which eliminates the use of chlorine and sulfur dioxide gas — and anaerobic sludge digestion with gas recovery, which will be reused in the digesters’ heating cycle. Future use of digester gas for power regeneration may also be possible as the treatment plant is further expanded. Ultimately, the plant will be able to process 32 million gallons a day (MGD). The initial phase will construct two parallel 8 MGD liquid trains for a total capacity of 16 MGD. Additional capacity increases can be constructed in 8 MGD increments, with a 24 MGD capacity anticipated by 2030.

The construction contractor is PC Construction Company of South Burlington, Vt., which is one of the nation’s largest employee-owned contracting firms. The project employed several approaches to saving money, including a sales tax exemption for the wastewater equipment that saved approximately $1 million.

North Little Rock-based Garver provided the professional engineering services to plan and design the wastewater system improvements, which began in late 2005.

Once the Tupelo Bayou plant is handling Conway’s current treatment needs, the Stone Dam Wastewater Treatment Plant on Stanley Russ Road will be decommissioned.

As part of the Tupelo Bayou project, improvements for wastewater treatment are being installed at the Tucker Creek Plant. Wastewater flow from the Stone Dam Wastewater Treatment Plant will be rerouted to the Tupelo Bayou Wastewater Treatment Plant. A portion of the Tucker Creek flow will be diverted to the Tupelo Bayou facility with line work improvement construction.

The overall project includes constructing the Central Pump Station and the Donnell Ridge Pump Station for $12.3 million. The contractor is Branco Enterprises of Neosho, Mo. The Conway collection system line work will cost $11.7 million. The contractor is Rosetta Construction, LLC of Springfield, Mo.