Case Study

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The City of Shreveport has been a landmark for water treatment facilities for over 100 years. Construction on the McNeill Street Pumping Station, which ran on steam-driven pumps, began in 1887. Major additions were undertaken from 1899 to 1921, and the plant continued to operate until 1994 (although the steam pumps were retired in 1980). The McNeill plant is typical of waterworks from the early 1900s that were once common throughout the United States. Not only is the steam-powered machinery dating from the late 1800s still intact in its original historic location, but the two Worthington pumps are still operational – possibly the only ones still in existence – thanks to meticulous care and maintenance.

The McNeill plant is also an example of a commitment to state of the art water treatment technology. Walter filtration began at McNeill in 1890 when less than ten percent of the nation's water plants provided filtered water. It was also one of the first water treatment plants to implement chlorine to disinfect water in 1914, only one year after the first use of liquid chlorine. The McNeill Street Pumping Station's significance is notable: it is a National Historic Landmark, a Historic Water Landmark, a National Civil Engineering Landmark (one of only four in the country) and listed in the registry of National Historic Sites.

When the Thomas L. Amiss Water Treatment Plant that was built in 1929 needed updating, the City of Shreveport decided to keep the beautiful, historic building while providing the control center with the latest technology. Today, the T.L. Amiss Plant provides 90 million gallons of safe drinking water to over 70,000 Shreveport residents. Its CitectSCADA system is used to monitor the level indicators, flow meters and historical trends of a distribution system consisting of 1,049 miles of water mains, 11,400 water main valves and 6100 fire hydrants.