The Batesville, Arkansas WTP was constructed over 60 years ago and has a current capacity of 12 MGD. Due to growth in the area and the age of the existing infrastructure, a new, 16 MGD WTP is being designed to replace the existing WTP. New chemical feed facilities will be included in the pump station to feed potassium permanganate to the raw water. The raw water source for the WTP is a river that experiences large turbidity spikes during wet weather events. The selected treatment process for the new plant utilizes ballasted flocculation for the flocculation, coagulation, and sedimentation processes followed by dual media filtration. 

Ballasted flocculation involves the application of coagulant, polymer, and microsand to the raw water. The polymer encourages turbidity to adhere to the microsand which allows for drastically lower settling times and results in a smaller overall footprint for the process. The subsequent dual media filtration process will be designed to allow the city to retrofit the filters for GAC media instead if desired, giving more flexibility to address emerging contaminants that may become regulated.

A new backwash pump station will accompany the new filters and a new clearwell will supplement the existing three clearwells to accommodate the increase in plant capacity. New chemical feed systems will be constructed to feed sodium hypochlorite and fluoride downstream of the filters. Finally, the new WTP will be equipped with a new high service pump station. The primary goal throughout the design of the new WTP is to provide the city with a flexible design that can produce high-quality finished water through the 40-year design horizon and beyond.