BETHEL HEIGHTS -- "Please quit polluting our properties and those of our surrounding neighbors," Joe Brooks told the City Council on Tuesday night.
He and his family said the city's wastewater treatment facility is dumping raw sewage onto the land. Brooks' aunt, Charlotte Steele, owns the 130 acres southwest of the city's facility on Lincoln Avenue.
The Steele family has had runoff on their land tested by a laboratory, and the tests showed high levels of fecal coliform and other contaminants, according to Al Drinkwater, an environmental consultant with Town and Country Services in Bigelow hired by the family.
Drinkwater said a Jan. 28 test showed fecal coliform in the runoff on Steele land was 86 times stronger than the city's permit allows. Tests in March and April continued to show extremely high levels, he said.
Mayor Cindy Black declined comment after the meeting, saying Joe Summerford, the city attorney, advised her not to comment. Black said Summerford received the complaint from the Steele family Tuesday and hadn't had a chance to review the reports.
Jason Steele, son of Charlotte and manager of the farm, said the family delivered copies of Drinkwater's report to the city Thursday. They also mailed copies to the mayor and City Council members. Receipts from registered mail confirmed those complaints were delivered Saturday, he said.
The council on Tuesday night also approved a wastewater audit commissioned by the city. "Everything was fine," Black reported during the meeting. Black said a copy of the report could be picked up from city hall starting this morning.
Based on Drinkwater's tests in January, Jason Steele filed a complaint against the wastewater treatment facility with the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.
ADEQ noted Feb. 12 inspection of the city's facility in a letter sent to Black, dated May 6. The letter said the inspection revealed "numerous violations" of the city's wastewater permit. Among these was wastewater rising to and pooling on the ground's surface. The violations also included the plant releasing higher levels of fecal coliform and other contaminants than allowed.
The state gave the city 90 days to submit a Corrective Action Plan, with certain problems addressed, certified by a professional engineer.
The letter to the mayor also noted the city has a long history of noncompliance. The city submitted a corrective action plan in February 2015 for similar violations, said the department's May 6 letter. Violations continued, and the agency on May 9, 2016, ordered the city to hire an engineer and develop a new corrective plan.
The city certified to the state Jan. 6, 2017, the corrective actions had been taken. The state closed the case.
The latest letter from the state notes since January 2017, the city has reported 43 surfacing events and 62 additional violations.
Nate Olsen, a spokesman for ADEQ, said the agency would hold comment until meeting today with officials. Black confirmed a 9 a.m. conference call with the department.
NW News on 05/22/2019