Sewage revamp still underway for Fort Smith

3 huge storage tanks to halt bypasses that break U.S. law

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/DAVE HUGHES 
A pay loader works around the two 5-million gallon equalization tanks being built near Zero Street and Jenny Lind Road in Fort Smith as part of the city’s ongoing effort to make improvements to its sewer system and eliminate violations under the Federal Clean Water Act. The $12 million Zero Street pump station project is scheduled to be completed in November.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/DAVE HUGHES A pay loader works around the two 5-million gallon equalization tanks being built near Zero Street and Jenny Lind Road in Fort Smith as part of the city’s ongoing effort to make improvements to its sewer system and eliminate violations under the Federal Clean Water Act. The $12 million Zero Street pump station project is scheduled to be completed in November.

Monday, February 24, 2014

— The construction of two large sewage-retention towers in south Fort Smith is the tip of the iceberg for the city as it revamps its sewer system to avoid sanctions for violating the federal Clean Water Act.

Archer Western Contractors LLC of Arlington, Texas, has built two 5 million-gallon equalization tanks off Jenny Lind Road near Zero Street as part of a $12 million contract to build a new pump station. The project began last spring and is to be finished in November, city Utilities Director Steve Parke said.

Last week, city directors awarded a $12.9 million contract to BRB Contractors Inc. of Topeka, Kan., to build a 3.5 million-gallon equalization tank and pump station on Navy Road near the Port of Fort Smith on the city’s west side. Parke said that project will take 24 months.

The city is building the three huge tanks, and may build another, to collect runoff during unusually heavy rains rather than letting thewater flow into and overwhelm the city’s P Street Wastewater Treatment Plant.

During heavy rains, the treatment plant cannot handle the load, and much of the sewage bypasses the plant and flows untreated into the Arkansas River. The bypasses violate the Clean Water Act, Parke said, and have been occurring in Fort Smith for years.

Additionally, the crush of water causes pipelines to overflow or leak on the way to the plant, running untreated into the river and streams, also a violation that has been going on for years.

Holding the water temporarily in the tanks, a 20 million-gallon pond near the treatment plant and a 22 million-gallon pond at the east end of Grand Avenue until the storm flow subsides will allow the city to gradually treat it without overwhelming the plant.

The alternative, Parke said, would be to invest in expanding the treatment plant to accommodate the high flows, which occur five or six times a year.

The water-storage projects are part of the city’s effort, ongoing since 1993, to improve the sewer system, stop violating the Clean Water Act and avoid sanctions from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department.

Assistant City Administrator Jeff Dingman said the city has been negotiating with the two agencies on a consent decree to spell out required government improvements and a schedule for addressing them. The decree also would establish fines and penalties that could be imposed if the city fails to meet the requirements.

Fort Smith has a “history of overflows and bypasses, so we will be obligated to do enough work to where those are the unusual event rather than usual event,” Parke said.

Dingman said he believes the city and federal agencieswill reach an agreement on the decree by the end of the year.

The city is concentrating improvements in three main areas: updating the two wastewater-treatment plants, which has been done; constructing interceptor sewer lines to convey heavy flows to those plants; and building the equalization tanks to temporarily hold the stormwater, Parke said.

“We’ve spent an estimated $100 million or so on upgrades and have at least $100 million more to go,” Dingman said.

Fort Smith voters in March 2012 authorized issuance of $71 million in bonds to pay for sewer-system improvements and to use proceeds from a 0.75 percent sales tax to pay off the bonds.

Dingman said the bonds are being issued over time to pay for the work in phases. He said the law states that the money from bond sales has to be spent within a certain period of time, and the city doesn’t have the ability to make $71 million in improvements at one time.

The government agencies also are working with the city to rehabilitate its 500-mile-long system of sewer pipes and to set up an ongoing program to inspect,repair and maintain the system.

The program will require more employees, equipment and facilities, and a more permanent revenue stream. Dingman said bond debt would be an inappropriate revenue source so city officials will have to consider increasing sewer rates.

It hasn’t been determined when or how much of a rate increase will be needed, he said.

“It’s going to be like painting the Golden Gate Bridge,” Parke said. “Once you paint it, you start over.”

Until now, the city has been more reactive than proactive in handling maintenance, Dingman said, responding to problems asthey arise.

Parke said under the maintenance program, the city will be proactive, constantly inspecting, cleaning and repairing sections of the system each year to prevent blockages, for example, that could lead to overflows.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 02/24/2014