That’s why we must make improvements to some of our critical infrastructure.

Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities (SLCDPU), established in 1876, is the oldest retail water provider in the West. Our long and successful history has instilled in us a strong value of protecting and managing our precious water supply. We understand the stewardship responsibility we have been given for water, the environment, and protecting public health and we take that stewardship very seriously. To ensure we can continue to provide the highest-quality services and keep our critical drinking water and sewage treatment facilities running continuously, means we must make improvements to them.

New Water Reclamation Facility

One of the most critical parts of Salt Lake City’s wastewater system is the Water Reclamation Facility, which treats an average of 35 million gallons of wastewater every day. That is almost 50 Olympic-size swimming pools of wastewater that is treated daily. Wastewater is water that goes down the drain into the sewer collection system after it has been used by residents, businesses and industrial customers. At the Facility, the wastewater is treated to meet water quality standards set by the state and is safely returned to the environment and Great Salt Lake in a responsible manner. The existing Water Reclamation Facility, which is now a 60+ year-old facility that is near the end of its service life, must be replaced to avoid operational failure and meet new state and federal water quality regulations. Construction work began in March 2020 and is planned to continue through 2026. The original estimated project cost was $700 million. The current estimated project cost is $836 million.