Amidst the clang of hammers on molybdenum tanks, Shreveport Aquarium director Jon Whitehead recently announced a new direction for the facility. “We are proud of adding a new mission to the Shreveport Aquarium’s agenda. We are going to be a water treatment plant for the city – as well as an educational and entertainment venue.”
The former Barnwell Center will look like a 4-story casino hotel once the water treatment plant enlargement has taken place. It will house a state-of-the-art water filtration facility.
Being adjacent to the Red River is not the advantage it might seem. “The Red River is laden with salts and other minerals,” admitted a city official. “That’s why the city’s water supply has long been Cross Lake.”
“Shreveport’s water supply,” said Mayor Ollie Tyler. “Yes, I’ve had a few headaches there. But with the planning of this downtown water treatment plant, I’m feeling much better.”
Expectations are that the facility will directly benefit the group known in the media as the “upper tier of water billings.”