Underneath the City of Rogers lies a network of pipes collecting used water from every house, business, and industry connected to the sewer collection system in Rogers.  These 312 miles of pipes carry an average of 7.5 million gallons of wastewater every day to the Rogers Pollution Control Facility.

Located approximately 7 miles southwest of downtown Rogers, the Pollution Control Facility (RPCF) is a wastewater treatment plant, valued at over 50 million dollars.  The Rogers Water Utilities Laboratory is also located at the Pollution Control Facility.  First built at its present location in 1988, the plant expanded in 1997 and again in 2009 to increase treatment capacity to 14.0 million gallons per day, and to improve the quality of the treated effluent that is discharged to the Osage Creek.

As the wastewater enters the treatment system it passes through screens to remove sand, grit and larger solids.  The water is then combined with recycled biosolids (solids produced during the biological treatment of wastewater), which contain large populations of microorganisms.  Nitrogen and phosphorus are biologically removed from the wastewater during this Bardenpho advanced treatment process.  Dissolved oxygen is added to satisfy the microorganisms’ needs, and they remove pollutants from the wastewater.  The biosolids are then separated from the treated water by settling in a Final Clarifier.  A portion of these solids is then recycled back to the beginning of the biological treatment system to combine with more incoming wastewater to continue the treatment process.  The rest of the biosolids are treated and applied to agricultural lands as a fertilizer.

The treated water leaving the Final Clarifiers is next passed through a filtration system using sand and anthracite as filter media.  Following filtration the water is chlorinated to reduce the number of pathogens that may be present.  The residual chlorine is then removed to prevent harm to the receiving stream.  Dissolved oxygen is added back into the water before it is discharged to the Osage Creek.

The RPCF has implemented the first wastewater treatment facility effluent recycling program in the state of Arkansas.  As much as 15% of the treated effluent is recycled to a local country club to maintain their ponds and irrigate the golf course.  Effluent is also used to irrigate the RPCF hay fields.

For more information on the Rogers Pollution Control Facility, please contact:

Robert Moore, Plant Manager
Rogers Pollution Control Facility
4300 Rainbow Road
Rogers, Arkansas  72758-1440
479-273-7378 ext. 110
robertmoore@rwu.org