On Tuesday, July 10, the City of Lake Charles celebrated the completion of a new Wastewater Treatment Plant “BC” with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The new plant, an administrative building, and a laboratory are located at 1132 W. 18th Street. The $43.5 million project represents the largest single infrastructure investment ever undertaken by the City of Lake Charles. 

Mayor Nic Hunter explained the importance of the project. “We are keeping up with evolving environmental regulations and new technology. The new plant is biologically producing a better, cleaner water effluent during operations and will help us meet the increasing needs of a growing region.”

Construction of the treatment plant alone cost roughly $42 million. The administrative building and laboratory, which were destroyed during Hurricane Rita, added approximately $1.5 million more to the project cost. 

“The former wastewater plant was constructed in phases between 1954 and 1968,” stated John Cardone, City Administrator. “The new plant meets the latest requirements as established by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).”

The new plant is able to treat 8 million gallons per day (MGD) of average daily flow with additional emergency capacity for storm-related events. The old plant had a combined permitted maximum discharge capacity of 6.2 MGD.

City Council President Mark Eckard said, “Lake Charles is now experiencing a major economic boom, and it’s very important that we’re investing in our infrastructure to keep up with that growth pace. This plant will allow us to service all of the needs within the city of Lake Charles in a treatment capacity and also allows us some additional expansion capacity.” 

To fund the treatment plant, the City allocated $21.8 million in reserves from the General Fund, Wastewater Fund, Riverboat Gaming Fund, and other capital project funds. Other funding for the project includes $4 million in State Capital Outlay funds. Loans from the DEQ Clean Water State Revolving Fund totaling $16.2 million provided the funds needed to pay for the treatment plant.

The engineer for the treatment plant was Affinity Engineering Group, and the general contractor was Max Foote Construction Company. Randy Goodloe was the Architect for the new administrative building and laboratory, while Pat Williams Construction was the general contractor.