FORT SMITH -- City directors will vote this week on a capital improvement program proposing to spend more than $360 million on water and wastewater improvements over the next five years.
"It's a whole lot of money, but it's a whole lot of work," Fort Smith Deputy City Administrator Jeff Dingman said.
A resolution to approve the water and wastewater programs is on the directors' agenda for Tuesday. The meeting is at 6 p.m. at the Fort Smith School Service Center on Jenny Lind Road.
Directors also will vote on resolutions approving 5-year capital spending programs for street, bridge and drainage projects, and for parks and recreation.
Most of the cost estimates for the wastewater program are for projects to comply with a consent decree the city signed with federal and state governments in December 2014.
In the decree, the city agreed to make improvements over 12 years to its wastewater collection system and to eliminate sewer overflows and leaks. Not complying with the decree's requirements and schedule will make the city liable for daily financial penalties.
At the time the consent decree was filed in federal court, city officials estimated the cost could reach $480 million to make all the improvements required over the 12-year life of the consent decree.
City directors passed an ordinance last year to raise sewer rates for city residents in three increments. The third rate increase goes into effect Jan. 1.
Revenue from the rate increases will pay off bonds sold to pay for the consent decree work.
The wastewater capital program for the next five years is estimated to cost more than $237 million, according to information presented to city directors in a study session last week. Most of that money would be spent to meet requirements of the consent decree.
Director Kevin Settle said he did not feel he had enough information to vote for the resolution. He and Director Tracy Pennartz questioned spending more than $72 million on improvements to the Massard Wastewater Treatment Plant.
They said the proposed improvements are not required by the consent decree, and they were concerned whether the expense was necessary. The bulk of the work on the plant would be done in 2019, 2020 and 2021, according to the program spreadsheet.
It is not certain, Settle said, what treatment regulations are going to come from federal and state agencies that would require the city to make the modifications to the plant.
Dingman said the treatment plant's obsolete trickling filters would have to be replaced with an activated sludge system to better treat waste if the state alters nutrient treatment standards.
The Massard Wastewater Treatment Plant on the city's east side has not undergone the improvements made to the main P Street Wastewater Treatment Plant, he said.
The 5-year wastewater improvement plan also calls for spending a total of $131.6 million on remediation work on the city's 300 miles of sewer lines to eliminate inflow and infiltration of stormwater into the system, and on increasing the capacity of the system to stop sewer system overflows.
The capacity improvements to several miles of sewer lines would cost $43.8 million over five years.
The remediation work, which would include assessing line conditions through smoke and dye testing and closed-circuit TV inspection, then repairing the lines, is estimated to cost nearly $87.8 million over five years.
Crews began assessing 50 miles of sewer lines last year, Dingman said. Other staff members are reviewing those assessments to estimate the cost of making the repairs. Crews have moved on to assess another 50 miles of lines this year, and staff members will review and plan for those repairs.
The process is ongoing, Dingman said. When the crews complete the line assessments, they will start all over again.
To do all the work needed to comply with the consent decree, city officials estimated the utilities department would need to hire 75 additional employees. That goal hasn't been reached, Dingman said, and the city has had to rely on contractors until the city can bring its crews to full strength.
On the water capital improvement program, which is not related to the consent decree, city employees estimate the city will spend more than $123 million on water system improvements over the next five years.
Most of that, $79 million, will be spent laying 27 miles of 48-inch-diameter water line from the city's water treatment plant in Mountainburg to Fort Smith. The plan calls for the line to be installed in three phases. The first phase is underway.
The new line will replace the 27-inch water line that is more than 80 years old.
"The line is simply rusting away," a memorandum from interim utilities Director Robert Roddy said. "Over the years, we have lost count as to how many repairs were needed."
Another major expense proposed in the 5-year plan is $25 million for water distribution system repair, rehabilitation, replacement and improvement.
State Desk on 10/03/2016