Central City requires 40 million gallons of water per day under normal conditions. The Central City Water and Sewer Division (supervised by an Assistant Public Works Director, Lynwood O’Neal) is under the direction of the Central City Public Works Department. The water supply is from a raw water intake located in the Roaring River and from three large wells within the city limits. All surface water is treated by one 40 million gallons per day (mgd) plant located at S and 3rd Streets. Additional wells are located at LL and 20th, M and 34th, and FF and 4th Streets. These wells are used only in an emergency and at peak production. Each well has a daily capacity of 650,000 gallons per day, which can be pumped directly into the distribution system after on site UV disinfection and then chlorination. All pumps are operated by electric power with diesel generator backup.

Public Works Engineering supports post emergency/disaster recovery operations by providing and coordinating building inspectors in pre-defined teams as identified through the FEMA Credentialing and Resource Typing documents. The following diagram shows the layout of the Central City Potable Water Treatment Plant.

In addition to the tanks located at the water treatment plant, two 10-million gallon ground storage tanks and four one-million gallon elevated storage tanks are located in other parts of the city. The 10-million gallon tanks are located at M and 34th and LL and 15th Streets. The elevated storage tanks are located at K and 15th, N and 30th, KK and 26th, and DD and 2nd Streets. Central City has no access to any outside source of water; however, its treatment plant is modern and is able to adequately supply the water needs of Central City.

There is at least a 6" water main in every street. Only 12" and larger mains are shown on the water map. Hydrants are spaced approximately 1,200' apart, are valved, and have a minimum fire flow of 2,500 gpm. Valves are on all legs of a node 10" and smaller. Valves are spaced approximately 2,000' apart on 12" pipe; 4,000' on 16"; 5,500' on 24"; and 8,000' on 38". Minimum pressure at any hydrant is 40 pounds per square inch (psi).

The Central City sewage system has two major collection interceptors, one on each side of the river, that follow south down the Roaring River to a 50 mgd advanced tertiary treatment plant. The plant is a waste-activated sludge process with phosphate removal and ultraviolet (UV) disinfectant and includes a fluidized bed incinerator for sludge treatment with disposal of the ash residue to the landfill.

The effluent discharges into the Roaring River. There is a stringent pretreatment program for industrial and commercial customers. The 50 mgd plant is located north of the Roaring River, north of I-102, and adjacent to the junction of State Routes (SRs) 13 and 19.

Central City sewage treatment is a multi-stage process to treat and purify waste water before it reenters a body of water, is applied to the land, or is reused. The goal is to reduce or remove organic matter, solids, nutrients, disease-causing organisms, and other pollutants from waste water. Each receiving body of water has limits to the amount of pollutants it can receive without degradation. Therefore, each sewage treatment plant must hold a permit listing the allowable levels of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)5, suspended solids, coliform bacteria, and other pollutants. The discharge permits are called National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits.

The Water and Sewer Division has 68,000 service connections to serve the residents and businesses of Central City. Water meter sizes range from 3/4" to 12", and backflow prevention is required for all commercial, institutional, and industrial customers. Sewer connection sizes range from 4" to 10".

Under the Assistant Director of Public Works, the division is broken down into two main sections, Operations and Plants. The Plants Section is responsible for the operation and maintenance of all water and sewer plants, intake structures, and 21 waste water pumping stations. The Plants Section also maintains the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system that monitors all of the major facilities of the department. The Operations Section is responsible for all other functions including distribution, collection, engineering, meter reading, and billing/customer service. The Operations Section operates out of Maintenance Yard #1, located at X and 13th Streets, Central City.