BETHEL HEIGHTS -- Springdale officials have rejected a request from Bethel Heights to tie its troubled sewer system to Springdale's system.
"Our position and the city's position have not changed," said Heath Ward, executive director of Springdale Water Utilities. The utility provides water and sewer service only to Springdale residents and customers already served in other areas, he said.
The utility is maintaining a moratorium on adding Bethel Heights water customers if they are served by Bethel Heights' sewer system. The state Department of Environmental Quality requested the moratorium in June.
The state agency has investigated problems at Bethel Heights' sewer plants for about a year after a complaint last April by Lawrence Bowen, who lives next door to the plants and reported untreated wastewater spilling into his yard. The state department ordered the city to close its plants and find another way to treat its wastewater.
Jacob Harper, a department spokesman, declined to comment because of ongoing administrative review. The state last year declared Bethel Heights out of compliance with its wastewater permit.
The Department of Environmental Quality has required several times that Bethel Heights officials determine an alternate plan for treatment of the city's wastewater. Several inspections over the past year have shown wastewater pooling on the ground at the city's plants.
Testing of that groundwater has revealed high levels of fecal coliform and E. coli higher than testing levels could record.
The Department of Environmental Quality on Jan. 30 suspended for six years the operator's license of Rick Sayre, the wastewater treatment plant operator for Bethel Heights. The state said the suspension came after a review of city records and test results.
[DOCUMENT: Read Springdale’s rejection of Bethel Heights’ request » arkansasonline.com/217bhdenial/]
State officials said they found evidence of falsification of 31 monthly reports between January 2016 and July 2019. Sayre failed to report 239 instances of the plant not operating within the requirements of its license, according to the state.
Springdale Water Utilities has turned down several similar but less formal requests for service in the past year from Bethel Heights, Ward said.
Bethel Heights officials made the most recent offer through a Feb. 6 letter from Robert Rhoads, a lawyer representing Bethel Heights, to Charles Harwell, the lawyer who represents the Springdale Water and Sewer Commission.
"My client's position remains firm that the commission is not willing to entertain a temporary sewer connection by Bethel Heights," Harwell answered in a Feb. 13 letter to Rhoads.
In return for permission to join Springdale's sewer system, Bethel Heights offered to pay a premium above the normal cost of service by building the pipes and pump station that would be needed, the letter said.
Ward wouldn't estimate the price of the premium or the infrastructure. Rhoads' letter includes an estimate of $500,000 taken from a plan developed by Hawkins-Weir Engineering at the behest of Bethel Heights.
Rhoads said the city would pay to build the infrastructure from its general operating fund. Bethel Heights customers wouldn't face higher rates for service, he said.
"The benefit to Springdale Water Utilities and the City of Springdale and its taxpayers would be that Springdale would not have to bear the cost if they are successful in the annexation petition and upcoming election, probably saving those taxpayers a minimum of $500,000," Rhoads' letter said.
Some Bethel Heights residents began collecting signatures last summer to force a public vote on annexing the entirety of Bethel Heights into Springdale. A spokesman for the group said Wednesday that they plan to turn the petitions over soon to the city clerks for verification.
Rhoads' letter says if Springdale and Bethel Heights voters turn down the annexation, Bethel Heights would ask to link to the Springdale system for 4½ years while the city builds infrastructure to connect with the wastewater treatment plant operated by the Northwest Arkansas Conservation Authority in south Bentonville.
Bethel Heights also offered to drop its court case seeking to block annexing land belonging to the Charlotte Steele family into Springdale. The smaller city opened a similar suit against an annexation by the Blevins family. The city hasn't included the Blevins lawsuit in its offer, Rhoads said.
The Steele and Blevins families requested annexation from Bethel Heights in the fall when the city couldn't provide sewer service to their properties. Springdale could provide service, and its City Council voted to annex the land. Bethel Heights officials have sued both the families and Springdale to block the annexations, said Ernest Cate, Springdale city attorney.
Bethel Heights officials have told the Department of Environmental Quality that they would like to connect to the Conservation Authority's plant. This would require building infrastructure, which would take about three years, according to the plan developed by Aaron Benzing of Hawkins-Weir. The city hired the firm to evaluate its plants and develop plans for the present and future as ordered by the state.
The Department of Environmental Quality several times since August requested that Bethel Heights officials research the possibility of joining another city's sewer system.
The first time was in a notice Aug. 16, which said Bethel Heights violated the Arkansas Water and Air Pollution Control Act. The state levied $112,000 in fines for the violations and false reporting. In October, the state suspended $81,200 of the fines when city officials agreed to follow orders of operation set by the state.
The state again asked Bethel Heights leaders in December to contact other local municipal wastewater treatment systems about taking the city's waste until a permanent solution is found.
Rogers Water Utilities officials told them no. The city code prohibits such action, said Brent Dobler, superintendent of the utility.
Refusals such as this are common among cities, Benzing said.
Environmental Quality Department officials in August ordered Bethel Heights to truck 25% of its treated wastewater, or about 20,000 gallons a day, from its plants for disposal. Four to six trucks a day deliver roughly 20,000 gallons of wastewater to the Conservation Authority's plant, according to records kept by the plant.
The city also said in recent progress reports to the state that it sends wastewater to Fort Smith for treatment on weekends when the authority's plant is closed.
SundayMonday on 02/17/2020