The Southside Wastewater Treatment plant (SWWTP) was built on Cumberland Road in 1955 when that location was well outside the city limits and from where Tylerites worked and lived. The first improvements were made to the equipment in 1978 as years of population growth expanded the city limits. Expansion towards the south largely increased in the late 1980s. More improvements were made in 1992 to replace equipment to support the continued development in south Tyler. In 2001, the city opened Faulkner Park to the public and around that same time the primary clarifiers (treatment plant equipment) were pulled offline due in part to the belief that there was excessive odor that was impacting surrounding residential developments. In 2016, the Cumberland Road extension was completed (connecting Broadway and Old Jacksonville Highway) and Faulkner Park became the location of a police substation. The 2019 census reported the population of Tyler had increased 27.9% with a total population rising to 106,985.

January 2021 marked the start of a $4.5 million construction project to update equipment at the head of the plant where the wastewater comes in by replacing 4 screw pumps. As a part of this project, the primary clarifiers will be brought back online and with that comes the return of additional odor. Per the city website, this project was a part of the $7.5 million that the city expected to spend on water and wastewater projects for the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

This timeline of events shows the city has tried to balance the needs of the wastewater treatment plant with the growth and development of the surrounding area…not an easy task. Despite these efforts, it is clear this odor control capital improvement needs to be the next item on the timeline and it needs to be expeditiously completed. 

Tyler is a great place to live and is growing. We need to attract and retain younger professionals to come to or stay in Tyler to staff our hospitals and local businesses instead of losing these people to other communities that have already addressed these types of issues. One of the ways to do that is to offer amenities. Unfortunately, some of our greatest amenities are located within a short distance of the wastewater treatment plant. Amenities such as Faulkner Park, the bike trails adjacent to Faulkner Park, Cumberland Village shopping center, the walking/biking trails along Cumberland Road, and the residential areas adjacent to or within a short distance of the plant. We need to rid our community of the odor that stains the experience when passing through this area.