The Resource Recovery Division is responsible for the treatment of the City’s sewage in accordance with rules and regulations that are defined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). This Division operates and maintains the newly renamed Wichita Falls Resource Recovery Facility with a total permitted capacity of 19.91 Million Gallons per Day (MGD), and the Northside Wastewater Treatment Plant (1.5 MGD total permitted capacity), as well as 54 Lift Stations within the Collections System.
In January 2018, the City brought into service its Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR) Project, discharging water to Lake Arrowhead via a 17 mile pipeline. Effluent water to Lake Arrowhead undergoes advanced tertiary treatment utilizing Cloth Media Filtration. The IPR project will continue to make the City more drought tolerant by extending potable supplies and fully utilizing the return flows from the City’s Resource Recovery Facility.
The treated wastewater effluent from the Resource Recovery Facility produces sludge that is converted into biosolids that are safely and beneficially utilized in the City’s composting program. Approximately 3,400 dry metric tons of sludge are produced from the facilities annually. Both, the treated effluent and biosolids are regulated under a permit issued by the TCEQ. The Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (TPDES) permit contains effluent limits as well as reporting, record keeping, monitoring, testing, and pretreatment requirements.
