New facility will provide clean, reliable water for generations
LANCASTER, OH – May 13, 2026 –Arcadis, a global leader in sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets, and the City of Lancaster are proud to announce the completion of the new North Water Treatment Plant (WTP). This modern facility replaces the City’s 90-year-old Miller Park Water Treatment Plant and will provide Lancaster residents and businesses access to clean, safe water for decades to come.
Lancaster has been experiencing rapidly rising water demands from a growing customer base and incoming industrial users. To address these needs, Arcadis partnered with the City to design and deliver the North Water Treatment Plant, located within Miller Park and drawing from the existing wellfield. With a peak flow capacity of 8.0 million gallons per day (MGD), the new North WTP, together with the City’s South WTP, will provide reliable, high-quality water and system redundancy long term.
Arcadis brings more than 30 years of experience supporting Lancaster’s largest capital improvement projects, offering local knowledge and technical expertise to deliver this critical infrastructure. Previous master planning efforts led by Arcadis allowed the City to move swiftly in response to the demands of a growing community and new industrial users. Design of the facility began in fall 2021, with construction starting in fall 2022. The plant became fully operational in early 2026.
The North WTP utilizes the existing Miller Park wellfield, now enhanced by four new groundwater production wells to meet a raw water demand of 9.3 MGD. Key treatment processes at the new facility include:
- Chemical oxidation;
- Gravity media filtration;
- Cartridge filtration;
- Reverse osmosis (RO) membrane softening;
- Post-treatment chemical addition and blending; and
- Clearwell storage and high service pumping to distribution.
Chad Dunn, Senior Vice President at Arcadis, said: “We’re proud to continue to partner with the Lancaster community to support their continued growth with long-term solutions. This treatment facility aims to provide exceptional finished water quality, operational reliability, and compliance with current and future regulatory requirements.”
Darren Drumm, Water Superintendent at the City of Lancaster, said: “We are extremely proud of the North Water Treatment Plant and what it represents for Lancaster. Our goal was to deliver state-of-the-art water treatment that provides safe, high-quality water for our community, and we accomplished this with remarkable speed and attention to detail. The new facility not only uses the latest technology, but its design blends beautifully with the surrounding downtown, reflecting the character and pride of Lancaster.”
