Phased Wastewater Expansion for the City of Magnolia

As Magnolia grew, the city needed additional wastewater capacity to meet an immediate need without limiting future expansion

Magnolia is a small city in Montgomery County, Texas, that has been changing quickly as new neighborhoods are built in the area. For local officials, that growth has never been just a planning question. It’s been an infrastructure question.

Magnolia needed additional wastewater treatment capacity to support continued development while maintaining reliable operation and compliance now. City leadership framed the need clearly:

“What we are looking at is a bridge between what we have now and what we will need to carry us to a point where we can build a bigger plant.”

AUC met this need by expanding the existing wastewater treatment plant with a 750,000 GPD steel concentric unit, increasing the facility’s total capacity to approximately 1.3 million GPD.

A Concentric Expansion Built for the Site

The expansion plant, which uses conventional activated sludge treatment, was a sensible fit for the town. The AUC plant is a permanent, high-flow wastewater solution with a compact footprint, and because its steel-plant approach supports phased expansion, customers can add capacity without starting over.

AUC erected the new concentric unit, tied it into the existing plant hydraulics and process flow, and aligned the internal clarifier components so the new unit would function as intended within the overall treatment train. The team approached the work with constructability in mind, executing the job in a way that could accommodate future concentric projects.

New Clarifier Geometry

Because Magnolia was the first AUC clarifier built with a sloped floor instead of a flat one, the project required more than a standard repeat design. The new geometry changed how internal clarifier components were designed, aligned, and installed, requiring AUC to adapt the system for field-ready construction.

AUC addressed this by redesigning the clarifier internals to match the new floor geometry while preserving the clarifier’s functional intent. The internal support and mounting approach had to accommodate slope angles and revised elevations, and the internal component geometry had to change so that the equipment maintained the correct relationship to both the floor and the operating liquid levels.

That work mattered in practical terms because it pushed the project beyond standard repetition. The team had to make the revised design buildable in the field, not just workable on paper. Field assembly, alignment, and fit-up all had to support efficient installation inside the concentric configuration.

Creating an Approach for Future Work

AUC successfully installed the expansion unit, expanding the city’s wastewater treatment capability and, in the process, establishing a new internal design approach for sloped-floor clarifiers.

That kind of practical repeatability matters in growing communities. The City of Magnolia expansion stands as an example of what phased wastewater growth can look like when the solution has to both solve an immediate capacity problem and sharpen the delivery approach for the next job.

The result was added wastewater capacity for current growth, a practical bridge to future plant expansion, and a proven clarifier approach AUC can apply to similar projects going forward.

Planning a wastewater plant expansion? AUC can help you add capacity now while preparing for future growth. Connect with our team to discuss your project.