The City of Cartersville Water Department manages 237 miles of distribution infrastructure and plays a critical role in protecting public health through water quality, treatment and wastewater operations. As the department expanded, key functions—including administration, laboratory testing, maintenance and storage—were spread across multiple locations within the plant complex, creating inefficiencies in coordination and daily workflow.
Client
City of Cartersville
Location
Cartersville, Georgia
Total Project Cost
$8 M
Completed
2025
Size
30,650 sq. ft.
Services
Architecture, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Plumbing Engineering, Civil Engineering
Through a series of planning and design workshops led by CPL with the Assistant City Manager, Water Department leadership, and key stakeholders, our team developed a master plan focused on bringing these dispersed operations together into a single, purpose-built facility that better supports how staff actually work.
The resulting 30,650-square-foot building consolidates administrative offices, domestic and wastewater testing laboratories, maintenance bays, and a dedicated pipe and materials yard into one coordinated environment. The layout was organized to reduce unnecessary travel between functions, improve communication between departments, and streamline the movement of staff, vehicles and materials across daily operations.
Material and building system selections support long-term durability and performance, while the planning of interior adjacencies strengthens operational clarity—placing related functions closer together to reduce delays and improve responsiveness across engineering, distribution, collection and maintenance teams.
For the staff who operate and maintain the City’s water systems every day, the completed facility brings previously disconnected teams into a single, more efficient working environment. It reduces time lost between locations, improves coordination in time-sensitive operations, and supports clearer communication between departments responsible for maintaining critical public infrastructure—ultimately strengthening the City’s ability to deliver safe, reliable water service to the community.
