Cleaner Waters for Lake Recreation

November 2, 2017

Lake Conway, the largest commissioned game and fish reservoir in the U.S., is a major recreational destination in Central Arkansas. The lake was finished in 1951, and development around its shore began almost immediately. At the time, little was done to standardize the septic installations. The lack of quality installations, combined with poor soils and negligent septic management practices, led to pollution in the waters of Lake Conway. Money was granted in a first phase to convert over 300 of the original 1,700 homes from their existing septic tanks to a new wastewater treatment system. Zoeller Recirculating Media Filters were engineered to treat the clustered wastewater. In addition, Zoeller helped design the force mains that delivered the septic tank effluent from each home to the treatment system. The system is composed of four 55’ x 140’ (17 x 43 m) recirculating media filters and is designed to treat over 150,000 GPD (567,812 LPD). Treated water passes through a chlorine contact basin for sterilization and is discharged into the lake. Discharge limits are established and monitored by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. Follow-up shows that the system is operating and performing well!