Belton Water Treatment Plant to see upgrades soon

To keep the water clean, the Belton Water Treatment Plant has run 24/7 since 1952 — there are four water plants operating, currently pushing over 50 million gallons a day.

"All the raw water from the lake for this plant comes in underneath us here, and then you got slow mix going that way, and slow mix going this way," said Richard Garrett with WCID 1.

"At the end of the slow mix, the clarified water goes into the circular mix on either side."

Some of the plants' technology has been around for centuries — upgrades could cost over $100 million, with the maintenance cost and capacity increasing to 118.4 million gallons daily.

Some cities like Killeen, Belton, and Copperas Cove could help pay for the cost upon approval by their council.

"We're wholesale — our wholesale rate is going up one penny in October, but the debt service is a different thing," Garrett said.

"Each city has a percentage of debt service deepening on their participation."

The plan is to replace some of the structure, and add another storage tank — as the city continues to grow, upgraded material is needed for the demand.

"If you look back at those poles some of that is original to the 50's — some of it was added in the 70's, and even then — that's pretty old to be relying on it,” Garrett said.

"I am very much looking forward to the upgrades and a lot of the operators here — you know, they work with it every day and they see deterioration."

The plan is to begin upgrades this time next year.