LITTLE ROCK — From near fisticuffs in the 1980s to boisterous hugs in 2008, it has been a tumultuous three decades for public officials from Arkansas and Oklahoma who have struggled to protect the Illinois River and its watershed.
It's hard to imagine that 30 years ago angry state officials almost came to blows over polluting the river, whose headwaters surge forth in Hogeye, wind through urban Northwest Arkansas and end up as a scenic river and water supply for eastern Oklahoma.
A week ago today, however, Arkies and Okies were hugging like country cousins at Christmas as they celebrated the official opening of Fayetteville's long-awaited and much-debated West Side Wastewater Treatment Plant. The Illinois was about to become even a little clearer and cleaner.
As sewer plant opening festivities go, I'm guessing this was as elegant as they get. What struck me was how representatives of both states put bygones aside in 2000 to participate in creating the plant.
Ed Fite, administrator of the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission, who laid a jubilant Grizzly Adams hug on Fayetteville's Dan Coody at the gala, said the mood was deeply contentious between the states until Coody became Fayetteville's mayor. Even governors and congressmen had becomeinvolved in the seemingly endless dispute over excessive phosphorous in the river.
Until the year 2000, groups on each side had argued over the adequacy of Fayetteville's original Paul Noland Plant, completed in 1989, and the city's need to further expand its treatment capacity for a rapidly expanding population. Fite said the Noland plant was supposed to be adequate for 20 years but was already approaching its capacity by 1996.
Fite told me that Coody unexpectedly called him one day in 2000 to ask him and other Oklahoma officials to attend a meeting where all the animosities could be resolved.
"Thankfully, Dan is the one who took the initiative and started us down the road to seeing this was actually completed," said Fite. "We had battle sores and Coody brought us together."
That was the first gathering of what would become many trips back and forth to Northwest Arkansas for the Oklahoma contingent.
Last week, more than 100 people gathered beneath white tents for a catered barbecue served on paper plates to recognize all the dollars and determination that had gone into seeing the vital facility become a reality. The attendees, including a dozen Oklahoma officials, joined in various guided tours of the sprawling plant and its surrounding wetlands.
Coody said he was just pleased to finally see the plant functioning as planned after all these years.
"I inherited three projects from the previous administration," he said. "The Senior Citizens' Center was the first and we saw it completed. Then we had the Dickson Street enhancement project and thatalso turned out as we hoped and planned.
"This plant was the only remaining hurdle. Now it's been jumped. The most important thing for me was finishing it right and involving Oklahoma since this plant and its discharge also affected them. Despite some unforeseen and unfortunate problems along the way, it is all behind us now."
The new treatment plant discharges its monitored effluent into adjacent Goose Creek, which flows directly into the Illinois.
Fite also told me that Coody and the Fayetteville City Council "did exactly what they said they would do. They kept their word, even though I know the mayor took some political hits in completingthis project he inherited."
Delia Haak, a former professor at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, heads the Illinois River Watershed Partnership with board members in both states. She said her group has worked diligently to mesh the interests of both states in various issuesthat arise, from water quality to business and construction. Like Fite, she praised Fayetteville and its leadership for completing the plant in such a cooperative way with Oklahoma.
It "says a lot about the mayor" that he would involve Oklahoma on his own in 2000, she added.
Haak said that the Illinois watershed truly is different because it starts in the rapidly developing urban area that is Northwest Arkansas and flows into a rural Oklahoma setting rather than vice versa.
"Most rivers begin in rural settings and flow into the urban areas," she explained.
This is particularly significant, since the population within the Illinois watershed is expected to triple in the coming years, bringing all the problems of potential pollution.
Peggy Bell, the project's financial supervisor since 2005, says she has approved every one of the 142 million dollars already invested in renovating the city's waste water treatment system. She said she's still watching the $80 million yet to be spent.
"I treat spending every dollar just like I would in my own family budget," she said, "and it's all regularly filed on accessfayetteville.com."
After bidding the ecstatic and affectionate Oklahomans goodbye, I left feeling that Northwest Arkansas' treated waste, excuse the expression, for now appears in good hands.
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Staff columnist Mike Masterson is the former editor of three Arkansas daily newspapers.
Editorial, Pages 15 on 09/04/2008