Elm Springs approves wastewater contracts

ELM SPRINGS -- The city put its wastewater concerns to rest at a special City Council meeting Tuesday.

"I'm fully confident that something I've personally been working for for five years, we will finally see come to pass," said Mayor Harold Douthit.

Elm Springs facts

The U.S. Census Bureau listed Elm Springs as having a population of 1,535 in 2010. It estimates the city as having a population of 2,249 as of July 1, 2016.

Elm Springs’ median household income is listed by the Census as $67,700.

Source: Staff report

The council unanimously passed two resolutions, one returning to an 18-month contract in which Springdale Water Utilities will treat Elm Springs' excess wastewater, and another to contract with the Northwest Arkansas Conservation Authority. The authority will treat Elm Springs' effluent once a sewer line is built between the city and the authority.

"Springdale is being a good neighbor by allowing us to reactivate the contract so that we have adequate space while we are building a line with NACA," Douthit said. "Once that line is built, we will no longer need that safety valve."

City leaders had been working during the original contract with Springdale Water to get a permanent hookup to either Springdale or the authority, a regional treatment facility, but the city was unable to secure an agreement with either, Douthit said.

Elm Springs has treated its wastewater at its own treatment facility since the contract between the city and Springdale Water Utilities ended last fall.

Elm Springs is not locked into the new 18-month contract with Springdale Water. Douthit described the contract as a safety precaution.

"Springdale is allowing us to tap into their system so that we have space to send effluent in case we need it for sewage flow," Douthit said. "Our treatment facility has limited capacity. We don't want to reach that limited capacity before we have a connection to NACA. We want to make sure we have uninterrupted service for the citizens of Elm Springs."

Elm Springs' treatment facility has a 42,000-gallon a day capacity and is running at about 37,000 gallons a day with each house having a flow of about 165 gallons a day, Douthit said.

Elm Springs will pay Springdale Water anywhere from $1,000 to 2,000 a month, said Heath Ward, the utility's executive director.

"It depends on how much they use. It's not exorbitant," Ward said. "If they don't use anything, they don't get charged anything."

Ward referred to the contract as short-term agreement to help Elm Springs.

Engineers are making plans for the sewer pipe connection from Elm Springs to the authority, and rights of way are being acquired to build the line. The line will be just over 2 miles long, Douthit said.

"In the next 45 days I hope we will be turning dirt, and 180 days from that 45 days I hope we will be hooked up to NACA," Douthit said.

The conservation authority treatment facility is at 11579 Snavely Road in Bentonville and has taken wastewater flow since 2010, according to Rick McClain, the conservation authority's facility manager.

"We're currently treating about 2.4 million gallons per day from Tontitown and Bentonville," McClain said.

The authority will treat 50,000 to 100,000 gallons more per day after Elm Springs comes on board, McClain said.

"If development in that city happens that [amount] could increase," he said.

Buying into the conservation authority costs about $580,000, Douthit said.

"It's our share of the facility based on a percentage of the facility that Elm Springs will use," he said. "We're going to give them a $58,000 down payment and then approximately $52,000 a year for the next 10 years."

Building the line and acquiring the rights of way will cost about $350,000 to $400,000.

"We're flirting with $1 million total," he said. "We have [the money] in our reserve funds. It's from all sources of income that we put back over the years."

NW News on 09/20/2017

Upcoming Events