Search warrant for Bethel Heights waste water system released

FILE -- The Bethel Heights Lincoln Street Waste Water Treatment Plant is visible Thursday, June 13, 2019, from the Lawrence Bowen property in Bethel Heights. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK)
FILE -- The Bethel Heights Lincoln Street Waste Water Treatment Plant is visible Thursday, June 13, 2019, from the Lawrence Bowen property in Bethel Heights. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK)

BETHEL HEIGHTS -- A Benton County investigator took a computer and water samples May 9 when he served a search warrant at the Bethel Heights Waste Water Treatment Plant on Lincoln Drive, according to the warrant.

Sgt. Jeff Simpson of the Benton County Sheriff's Office took from the computer to search for correspondence and other information concerning spillage on adjoining property.

Simpson also collected samples of standing water from several locations at the plant and from a neighbor's yard.

The search warrant was issued to help investigators determine if the city is in violation of state law that prohibits knowingly polluting waters of the state, falsifying documents and spillage onto public or private property.

The Bethel Heights waste water treatment system has been under investigation by the state since February 2019 when a neighbor with property abutting the Lincoln Street plant reported drainage of waste water from the plant onto his property.

NW News on 06/03/2020

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