Wrightsville wastewater line to add hundreds, schools

Hundreds of people and two Pulaski County schools are connecting to the Wrightsville wastewater line in a $6 million project in southeast Pulaski County that's part of a 10-year effort to move away from septic tank use in the area.

The new wastewater line is the second phase of a project that connected the Higgins area to the Wrightsville line in 2007, but the first phase had so many issues that the second phase will include repairing much of it.

About 400 people will be added onto the line, along with Mills High and Fuller Middle schools and the Pulaski County Special School District administration building, said Carol Parker, chairman of the Sweet Home, Higgins and Red Oak Sewer Facility Board.

The community is largely on septic tanks, aside from the schools and administration building, which use a waste treatment plant.

The school district would lose the burden of maintaining the treatment plant while paying for public sewer service at nearly the same price, said district Planning Director Jerry Holder. The district additionally decided to become a part of the wastewater line to ensure that the community around it would be able to finance the project, he said.

Project administrators are awaiting final plan approval from local officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development division, Parker said, and a bidding process for construction would begin soon after.

The project is vital for many southeast Pulaski County residents who live in low-lying areas subject to flooding, Parker said. A broken septic system can become a bigger problem after a hard rain and flooding, she said.

"Can you imagine?" Parker said. "It could mix with your water."

Sewage getting into the ground can cause a health hazard, said Mark Bennett, chief of water development for the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission.

The facility board Parker serves on was formed to address the second phase of the project after the first phase was finished.

The board has secured a disaster grant to repair a wastewater line in the Red Oak area and is otherwise funding the project through $3.7 million in Arkansas Natural Resources Commission grants, $1.6 million in a USDA Rural Development grant and $701,000 in a USDA Rural Development loan.

The state pays for water and wastewater projects largely through the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, which receives funds each year from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grants.

Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines signed the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission grant application for the wastewater line Jan. 27, 2010. The grant was awarded in February 2013.

USDA Rural Development gives out mostly loans when it comes to water and wastewater projects across the state; it distributed almost $15 million of loans this fiscal year and $9 million in grants.

Both agencies generally receive more applications than they can afford to fund, but Stephen Lagasse, community program director with a local USDA Rural Development office, said fewer projects across the state are necessary.

Residents getting connected to the sewer line could see about $10 or $20 tacked on to their sewer bills each month to pay back the USDA loan, Parker said.

The loan taken out by the facility board will go on top of the loan it took out for the first phase of the sewer project. The board pays $1,900 each month toward that loan by using payments attached to residents' bills.

"We'll just pay it until it's paid out," Parker said. "I can't say how long it's going to be."

Metro on 09/16/2014

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