The City of Edmond, Oklahoma, is proposing to expand and upgrade their water supply and treatment system located, in part, within the U.S Army Corps of Engineers – Tulsa District (USACE-SWT) Arcadia Lake Project, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma.  Components of the proposed expansion, including a new raw water intake and pump structure, raw water lines from the intake structure to the water treatment plant (WTP), and a treated water pipeline from the WTP to a distribution facility, lie within the Arcadia Lake Project boundaries.  As such, the City of Edmond is requesting 33 U.S.C. Section 408 approval from USACE-SWT to temporarily occupy and alter portions of the Arcadia Lake Project to accomplish the proposed expansion.  The proposed alterations and modifications are operation and maintenance responsibilities of the non-Federal sponsor, the City of Edmond, and will be implemented at no cost to the federal government.  A site location map is included for reference.

Projected future water supply needs exceed the capacity of the current system, and the City of Edmond has determined there is a need to construct a new raw water intake and pump station to meet the increased treated water needs of its residential and industrial users.  The proposed project would meet current and future water supply needs through construction of a raw water intake and pump structure, raw water pipelines, upgrades to the WTP facility, and a treated water pipeline to a distribution facility.  The proposed project would increase the current 10.5 million gallon per day (mgd) capacity to 30 mgd, with the capability of future increases up to 65 mgd.

The proposed project involves an intake shaft (pump structure/wet well) near the north abutment of the dam on a point of rock northwest of the existing Arcadia Lake outlet structure.  Three microtunnels, in a fanned array, would be bored from the intake shaft to the lakebed with inverts to accommodate water withdrawal from varying lake depths.  Pumped discharge from the intake would be routed in two 42‐inch raw water lines to U.S. Highway 66 and then to the Arcadia Lake WTP west of the Arcadia Lake Dam.  A new 42‐inch finished water pipeline would convey water from the WTP along Post Road and U.S. Highway 66 to the I‐35 distribution complex.  In addition to the proposed intake structure and pipelines, expansion of the City of Edmond’s Arcadia Lake WTP would include improvements to existing structures and construction of new components.  The proposed project poses no risk to the safety of the Arcadia Lake Dam, and requires no modifications to existing operations at the Arcadia Lake Project.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is soliciting your comments on the project referenced above.  The City of Edmond, Oklahoma, in cooperation with USACE, is preparing an Environmental Assessment, in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, to assess impacts of the proposed WTP expansion project.  Please provide any written comments you may have to Dr. David Gade, Limnologist, Environmental Branch, Regional Planning and Environmental Center, by mail (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2488 E 81st Street, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74137-4290), or email (David.Gade@usace.army.mil).  Please direct any questions or requests for additional information to Dr. Gade by email or telephone at 918-669-7579.