FARMINGTON -- The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality issued violations last week against Valley View Golf LLC for irrigating the golf course with water from two ponds near the clubhouse. Ownership of the ponds is in question and the golf course and Valley View Estates are embroiled in a lawsuit.
Valley View Golf LLC and Communities Unlimited, the court-ordered receiver that controls the subdivision's community sewer system, are at odds over whether water from the ponds near the clubhouse can be used to water the golf course.
The lawsuit
Washington County, the cities of Farmington and Prairie Grove, Rausch Coleman Valley View and the Property Owners Association filed the lawsuit in Washington County Circuit Court against Washington County Property Owners Improvement District No. 5, Valley View Golf LLC, Joe Stewart, Jennifer Stewart and John Lipsmeyer as commissioners for the improvement district and also as individuals. The Stewarts and Lipsmeyer have since resigned their positions as commissioners.
The lawsuit asked for the improvement district to be placed into receivership because of the danger of harm to the health and safety of residents in the subdivision and the danger to the environment.
Circuit Judge John Threet placed the district in receivership with Communities Unlimited on April 21.
A hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Aug. 1-2.
Source: Staff report
Washington County Property Owners Improvement District No. 5 operates a sewer treatment facility that includes the two storage ponds and irrigation system for the course golf. The system accepts wastewater from homes in Valley View Estates subdivision. This water goes through a treatment system and is then stored in the two ponds before it is applied by a sprinkler system to irrigate the golf course.
The system's ADEQ wastewater permit expired Jan. 31, and the improvement district, now under the direction of a receiver, is in the process of trying to get a new permit.
Communities Unlimited claims the ponds are a critical element of the wastewater system and the golf course's usage of the water for watering interferes with the receiver's ability to bring the system into compliance with state laws and obtain a new wastewater permit. The group also claims Valley View is watering the course with effluent.
The golf course owners dispute the claim and said the irrigation ponds belong to Valley View Golf and the receiver only has access to the ponds as part of an easement agreed upon years ago. It also claims the ponds contain only rain water, not treated effluent. Valley View Golf LLC is represented by attorneys Donald Kendall and Susan Kendall of Rogers and John Peiserich of Little Rock.
Peiserich said Valley View and ADEQ tested the ponds' water quality and both found it was within regulatory limits, adding rumors the golf course is irrigating with raw sewage are untrue.
Treated wastewater has not gone into the ponds for the past five months and that water is long gone, he said.
"When you look at it, what you find is that there's no treated effluent in it. That's the reason it tested the way it did," Peiserich said.
The receiver filed a motion asking the court to stop the course from using the pond water. Washington County Circuit Judge John Threet is scheduled to hear arguments at 9 a.m. Aug. 1.
ADEQ also has its own lawsuit filed against the improvement district. Its inspectors have noted multiple violations against the sewer system for several years. These include sewer overflows, failure to report overflows, equipment not working and failure to submit reports as required.
The agency's Wednesday violation notice demands the golf course stop using the ponds for irrigation until several conditions are met, including certification by a professional engineer that the course drainage system does not connect to the city of Farmington's municipal storm sewer system, submit and obtain approval from ADEQ for a no-discharge permit, and obtain approval from ADEQ for a national pollutant discharge elimination system permit, as required by the federal Clean Water Act.
The violation order also fines Valley View Golf $38,000, due within 30 calendar days.
Valley View can appeal the notice by filing a written request for a hearing with the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission.
The violation states that an ADEQ inspection in March showed parts of the sewer system were not working and inspectors found evidence of waste solids in and around the west storage pond. This pond also was overflowing on the south side into a golf course drain, which then flows into Farmington's municipal storm sewer system.
ADEQ on June 16 notified Valley View Golf it could not use the ponds to irrigate the golf course until proof had been submitted the storage ponds had been thoroughly cleaned of all wastewater and solids and been disconnected from the improvement district's treatment system.
The notice claims Valley View irrigated with water from the storage ponds June 11-21 in violation of state law, which governs the storage and land application of treated effluent.
The state agency notified Valley View Golf to cease irrigation from the storage ponds on June 22, but states it received complaints from residents on June 23, June 25, June 27 and June 29 the golf club was irrigating the course again.
NW News on 07/25/2016