The City of Buckley has a population of approximately 5,000 residents and is a rural Washington State community located about 40 miles southeast of Seattle. Like many communities using an unfiltered surface water source, the City was required by the Washinton State Department of Health (DOH) to provide a treatment system capable of meeting the Surface Water Treatment Rule (SWTR). The high costs associated with most treatment processes were beyond the City's financial capability. Instead, the City embarked upon an ambitious plan to restore a structurally failed 1.0 million gallon ground-level concrete reservoir, upgrade a 60-year old control weir house, and construct within these components a 1 million gallon per day (MGD) slow sand filtration plant. Successfully completed in 1997 for approximately $400,000, the slow sand filtration plant currently operates at 1.2 MGD and is driven by less than 24 inches of hydraulic head. Nearly all of the original 1930s era facilities were utilized in the construction of the treatment plant. Power at the site is required only for the chlorinator, programmable logic controller and an electric actuated valve. This presentation describes the project from initial pilot plant testing through construction and final startup. The challenges associated with restoring abandoned facilities, incorporating existing components into a unique design process, and overcoming site construction issues are examined with the use of a slide presentation. Instrumentation, sand cleaning, and startup issues are discussed as well. The engineering feasibility of economically utilizing existing structures to meet future regulatory requirements was demonstrated by the City of Buckley slow sand filtration project. The applicability of renovating facilities for similar processes could be expanded to other small municipalities.