City Of Bartlesville Applies For ARPA Grant To Upgrade Wastewater Treatment Plant

The City of Bartlesville has put in an application for an American Rescue Plan Act grant to help fund the city's wastewater treatment plant expansion project. The city, if approved, would receive $2 million towards the expansion and refresh of the plant. The total cost for the project will run about $55 million.

"Part of it is going to be a refresh. We’re going to do some renovations and equipment replacement, but then it’s also going to be an expansion to where we add new components to facilitate more treatment capacity," Terry Lauritsen, Director of Water Utilities said.

The city likely won't find out whether it's been approved for the grant until sometime in the first quarter of 2023. The city would also have to match any funds received from the grant and have to spend it on the project by December 2026. However, Lauritsen doesn't believe that will be an issue.

Lauritsen said that the general reception to the project has been pretty positive so far.

"I’ve gone through a lot of study, a lot of evaluation to see what exactly we need to do, and hopefully, it’s been from my perspective at least the interactions that I’ve had, it’s understood why it needs to be done and the community overall seems to be supportive of moving forward with that," Lauritsen said.

If the city gets approved for the grant, construction on the project would begin some time in 2024.