BENTONVILLE — City officials took the first step Tuesday night toward meeting a requirement set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year.
The City Council unanimously approved spending $83,000 for an audit of the city’s wastewater treatment facility. The decision because of a July 15 mandate from the EPA saying the total maximum daily load of phosphorous from the wastewater facility into Town Branch creek should be limited to 0.1 mil.igrams per liter by February 2017.
The facility is now permitted to have a phosphorous level of 1 milligram per liter, said Mike Bender, public works director, adding that meeting the new limit will be difficult.
“It’s going to be tough and it’s going to be a process,” Bender said.
The first step in the process is the audit which will determine what the wastewater treatment plant is capable of doing and what can be improved there, Bender said.
City attorney Camille Thompson said the city and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality is challenging the EPA’s mandate.
“Recent case law indicates that what the EPA did isn’t acceptable,” Thompson said, noting the state is still discussing the mandate with EPA.
Should those discussions fail, litigation will follow, Thompson said.
She said the audit of the wastewater treatment facility is a good decision for the city to make regardless of the outcome of the discussions or possible lawsuit.
Mayor Bob McCaslin agreed. “All strategies of adding wastewater will start with an audit of what you already have,” McCaslin said.
The audit will tell the city how many gallons per day the treatment plant is capable of handling, Bender said.
“The worst thing (the audit) can do is tell us we are doing everything we can,” Bender said.
Councilman Jim Grider said he agreed with the need for the study but felt the city needs to react faster to the EPA’s demand.
“I think we need to be stepping a little quicker,” Grider said. “We’re wanting to do a lot of good things here but if you can’t flush the toilet, no one is going to want to come here.”
The $83,000 audit was not budgeted by the city because there was no indication the EPA would impose such a mandate last year.
“If it weren’t for your federal government we wouldn’t have this unappropriated expenditure before you,” McCaslin said.