Pierce-Burch Water Treatment Plant Named a Top Project for 2025
Published on December 17, 2025
Photo caption: Aerial photo of City of Arlington's Pierce-Burch Water Treatment Plant. Photo Courtesy of Freese & Nichols
By Alyssa Burlison, Arlington Water Utilities communication
"WaterWorld," a magazine dedicated to the water and wastewater industry, recently named the City of Arlington a winner in its 2025 Top Projects Awards. The awards highlight water and wastewater projects throughout the United States. The announcement in "WaterWorld’s" November/December issue recognized the City for Arlington’s Water Utilities’ Pierce Burch Water Treatment Plant Chemical, Clearwell, and Pump Station Improvements project.
Judging was based on several factors, including impact to the community, innovative equipment, size and scale, challenges overcome during design, and collaboration during construction, according to WaterWorld. Arlington was one of five communities to win the award for a water project. The Pierce-Burch project broke ground in late 2021 and is expected to be completed in 2026. It includes new chemical facilities, clear wells for storing water, a new high service pump station, power distribution facilities, and emergency generators.
The Pierce-Burch Water Treatment Plant is one of two water treatment plants in the City of Arlington. It has a capacity of producing 75 million gallons of water a day. Built in the 1970s, the plant needed major upgrades to meet the City of Arlington’s future needs. "WaterWorld" described the project as a “thoughtful modernization aimed at extending the life of existing assets while building capacity for the future.”
Arlington Water Utilities is investing $112.5 million in the Pierce-Burch project.
The magazine also recognized challenges the Arlington Water Utilities faced as it upgraded Pierce-Burch, including physical site constraints and ongoing operations at the plant. The award announcement also noted the effective collaboration among Arlington’s partners in the project.
- HDR was the project’s design consultant
- Archer Western Construction is the contractor for the project
- Freese & Nichols is the construction management firm
WaterWorld also said that the coordination with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the City’s power provider ensured that “new systems met modern regulatory resiliency standards.”