LR Wastewater set to replace station

Little Rock Wastewater is replacing its pump station and a force main on Cantrell Road.

Half of the equipment is “original to the station,” while the other half is made up of a 1986 model, said John Holloway, the agency’s director of engineering. The replacements are “reliability upgrades” for an area of town that serves the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the Arkansas State Hospital and the state Capitol, he said.

Along with the renovations, the utility company is planning to add a generator to the pump station that sits to the west of Episcopal Collegiate School on Cantrell. The entire pump station project will cost about $10.5 million and is expected to be completed by Aug. 6.

The force main, which takes the sewage to a treatment facility, was built in 1958 and is also a reliability upgrade, Holloway said, adding that the work has shut down a westbound lane on Cantrell Road near North Street. In replacing the force main, the utility company will also change the route.

The current route runs underneath the Episcopal Collegiate’s parking lot, but the new route will run parallel to Cantrell and underneath the railroad crossing, he said.

The $3.1 million force main project, which began Nov. 10, is expected to be completed by May 29, he said.