Under a jointly funded cooperative agreement with U.S. EPA, three 1-mgd granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorbers and a reactivation pilot facility were constructed at Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. The project objectives were to assess the economic impact of removing trace organic contaminants from lower Mississippi River drinking water and to evalulate the utility of the infrared reactivation furnace for repeated reactivation of GAC. While on-site reactivation was not free of problems, reactivated GAC was essentially equivalent to virgin GAC, the volumetric GAC transport and reactivation loss was 9%, and, while low levels of some reactivation by-products were observed, the maximum risk level associated with these levels was minimal at 3 in 1 billion. Approximately $2.2 million (1983 dollars) was required for design and construction of the facility. The operation and maintenance cost for the facility was about 14 cents/1,000 gal for a 20 min. empty bed contact time and a 3-month GAC reactivation cycle.