The creek that runs through Brian Stricker’s yard on Butler Road remains murky months after the Allens Canning plant in Siloam Springs stopped putting wastewater into the creek flowing into the Illinois River.

The creek, which has no name, “used to run crystal clear, but it’s turned the water close to sewage almost,” said Stricker, who owns property near Allens.

“It stinks, and it looks nasty.”

Months after Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality first reported Allens violated environmental laws, the water in creeks and wells remains a big concern among nearby property owners.

Nothing has been done to clean up the water, oft cials said.

The state is considering fining Allens over the handling of its wastewater

NWA

online

ALLENS COMPLAINT

To read the report from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, go to www.nwaonline.com/ documents. and noncompliance issues, but nothing is final, said Ryan Benefield, deputy director.

It’s not clear who will be liable for any penalty, or who would be responsible should the state mandate a cleanup.

Bankrupt Allens auctioned its Siloam Springs plant earlier this month with Sager Creek Acquisition Corp. offering the highest bid for acquired assets at $124.78 million.

Sager Creek is owned by Sankaty Advisors, the credit affliate of Bain Capital, according to Sankaty’s website.

Landowners whose properties touch the creek said the purchase makes the process less clear.

Residents want to know what will be done about the tainted wells and creek. They said they want to know what will be done to make sure Allens, with its history of violating environmental laws, doesn’t keep letting wastewater off its property and polluting their water and land.

A representative for Bain and Sankaty didn’t answer questions about the environmental infractions by deadline Thursday.

A representative for Allens sent an email Thursday evening saying the company “is working closely with the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and other state off cials to address the problems identifi ed.”

CLEAR TO DARK

BLUE-BLACK

Property owners noticed in July the water in the creek was dirtier than usual.

There were times the water became discolored previously — and residents reported Allens’ wastewater problems before — but by October, the water was rancid, they said. Minnows disappeared and yellow “stuft” appeared in the creek.

Wally Dunn, a Benton County environmental officer, investigated and found enough concern among neighbors and enough foam on the water to merit turning over his findings to the state. Dunn filed a complaint with the state Oct. 15, according to records.

Between October and December, about eight of Allens’ neighbors filed complaints, some of them through Dunn.

In their complaints, residents reported a rank smell coming from the creek, foam on the water, moss and vegetation dying, strange algae growing on the creek bed and the water’s color changing “from clear to a dark blueblack.”

During an Oct. 22 inspection, the state found Allens oversaturated its land-application sites west of Butler Road and east of Turkey Road.

The amount that ran into the creek and the Illinois River is unknown, but Benefield said samples showed a high level of nutrients in some samples. Off cials were concerned about oxygen levels, too, he said. High nutrients and low oxygen can kill life in water.

Based on Allens’ figures, Alison West, Water Division field inspector, wrote in a 100-plus page report Nov. 22 Allens applied more than 1.34 billion gallons of wastewater to about 217 acres in fewer than five years. In 2012 alone, Allens applied almost 317.5 million gallons of irrigated wastewater over the same acreage. That amounts to about “54 inches of waste applied,” according to West’s report.

West said in her summary that when she visited the fields Oct. 22, she sank into the ground up to her ankles. While on Stricker’s property, near where orange algae grew on the bottom of the creek, she noted she was 700 feet from the Illinois River.

The Illinois River is an ecologically sensitive water body, according to the environmental agency. Siloam Springs gets its drinking water from the same river — although city off cials said they hadn’t been notified of a problem with the water.

West inspected Allens Oct. 22, 24 and Nov. 13 because of complaints, according to her letter to Allens. Among other issues, she found wastewater pooling around irrigation heads. Among the 90 irrigation sites west of Butler Road, 41 of the sites had operations and management issues, West wrote.

State inspectors found wastewater application to areas without enough vegetation and inadequate equipment to measure those applications, Benefi eld said.

“They were not meeting the terms of their permit,” he said.

In a response letter Oct. 30, Laura J. Mushinski, Allens’ environmental quality director, said some irrigation valves had been shut off; a new supervisor was put in the wastewater division; land was slated to be reworked and reseeded; and the company planned to improve routine inspection and maintenance.

The company also began hauling some waste to Decatur and Siloam Springs facilities instead of using the fi elds.

Despite the pledges, Allens continued not to comply with its permit, according to state reports. By early December, Allens had been turned over to the state’s Water Division Enforcement Branch.

The environmental agency is considering a fi ne against Allens, Benefield said. He said he didn’t believe a cleanup will be necessary.

The Illinois River had some short-term effects from the wastewater, which is much the same as commercial fertilizer, he said.

“The stream can assimilate those items,” Benefi eld said.

The current Allens owners may be liable for any state fine, even after the plant’s sale is finalized, Benefield said. The fines are meant to ensure future compliance, he said.

Allens paid a voluntary civil fine of $2,880 in 2010. The Consent Administrative Order from the state environmental agency was over a wastewater spill at Allens, and the company applying waste when rain was imminent and runoff likely, according to state records.

‘UNDRINKABLE’

The creek touches an entire side of the 5 acres where Marian Bearden, 80, lives. She’s lived in the area 18 years, she said.

The creek used to dry up sometimes between rain, but in the past two years, it has flowed nonstop, she said. Then, last summer, the water became discolored. Shortly after that, her well, just 100 yards from the creek, became turbid.

In photographs Dunn submitted to the state in October, the water from Bearden’s kitchen is the brown color of tea. The water turned Bearden’s washing machine, sinks and toilet black.

Even now, after the environmental department has tightened oversight over Allens, the water stains her sink a yellowish color, she said.

“It’s polluting my well, and everyone’s well in this valley,” Bearden said. “My water is still undrinkable.”

Bearden and Stricker continue to use bottled water to drink. Bearden said a water sample showed her water isn’t safe to drink, but a purification system costs about $6,000, she said.

What Allens and the state are doing to fix the environmental damage isn’t enough, Bearden said.

“I’d like them to fix our wells,” she said. “We had good water.”

Down stream from Stricker, neighbor Kameron Slater said he wanted Allens to repair the stream and water quality. Residents shouldn’t have to wait for the wastewater to slowly be diluted and for the creek to heal itself, he said.

Stricker said he knew one neighbor had been asking residents to sign a petition. A lawsuit over the water quality isn’t out of the question, neighbors said. None have been fi led.

Slater said he isn’t satisfi ed by what the state environmental agency and Allens has done so far. He complained earlier about the creek’s deteriorating condition, he said. He said he saw changes in the creek in 2012.

Now, he doesn’t let his children or dog play in the creek during the summer. The creek’s condition is “septic,” Slater said.

“The water turned yellowgreen,” Slater said. “Many things did not look like they could live in that. Now it’s clear, but it’s not repaired.”

“It’s polluting my well, and everyone’s well in this valley. My water is still undrinkable.”

MARIAN BEARDEN

Who lives near Sager Creek