El Dorado utility targets overflows

It develops corrective plan to help sewers run smoothly

EL DORADO — The El Dorado Water Utilities is taking a more aggressive approach to preventing and addressing sanitary sewer overflows, members of the El Dorado Water and Sewer Commission were told Tuesday.

Part of the plan is to work with the Union County jail to better handle foreign objects that are being flushed down the toilets, said Mark Smith, general manager of the utility.

Commissioner Robert Rushing referred to previous discussions about such overflows that were cited by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality for 18 months in 2014 and 2015. Employees of the El Dorado Water Utilities have reported that the state cited nearly 50 overflows during that time period.

Consequently, El Dorado Water Utilities has been required to come up with a corrective action plan by Dec. 31 and to submit monthly reports until then.

Employees have said the overflows were largely because of to equipment failure. Others were caused by grease build-up, infiltration of debris and tree roots, damaged manhole covers and errors by contractors.

Smith told the commission in October that he was concerned about potential fines in the future, given the condition of the city’s wastewater infrastructure.

In response to Rushing’s inquiry Tuesday, Smith said the utility had sent its last mandatory monthly report to the Department of Environmental Quality.

Earlier in the meeting, Smith reported that an overflow recently occurred in a sewer line at Hudson Place Apartments, and that the utility was scheduling a line replacement project in the area.

The utility’s wastewater collection foreman Kenneth Robertson said that while the line is in good shape, its walls are so caked with grease that workers can’t get cameras inside to examine them.

“Why are we replacing it?” Commissioner Bret Garrett asked.

Smith and Robertson said the 6-inch line isn’t large enough to handle the flow from the area, which includes multiple apartments and a residential substance abuse treatment center. Smith said plans are to install a 12-inch line, and the project will be included in the utility’s 2016 budget proposal.

Another step that the utility is taking to address the overflows is working with Union County to alleviate a problem at the jail. Utility employees have said inmates routinely flush foreign objects — including jumpsuits, shoes, sporks, plastic wrap, and toothpaste tubes — down the toilets. That wreaks havoc on the sewer lines there.

Earlier this year, a new lift station with a trap was installed in the area, and utility employees hoped that would solve the problem. Smith previously said that county officials had indicated they would monitor and clean the trap.

“I guess there must have been a breakdown in communication because later on they told us they couldn’t clean it out, and it’s right behind the jail,” Smith told commissioners Tuesday. “We cannot allow that to continue to happen with a half-million-dollar lift station sitting there that would be damaged.”

The lift station was one of three that the utility installed around the city this year as part of a $1.2 million project.

Smith said the utility spent $20,000 to add a catch-basket to the lift station near the jail.

“What happens when the basket fills up?” Garrett asked.

“It runs directly over into our manhole and still goes down the [wastewater] line,” Robertson said.

Smith said he has discussed the matter with County Judge Mike Loftin, and county officials have agreed to install a grinder.

“It grinds it all up into itty-bitty pieces to pass through,” Robertson explained.

A better idea, he said, would be to install a screen that would drain water from the solids.

“Since they use the toilet as a dumpster anyway, you would have semi-dry trash that you can put in the dumpster and haul off,” Robertson said.

Mayor Frank Hash asked why jail personnel can’t clean the catch-basket.

“They told us it’s not something they can require the prisoners to do,” Smith said.

“Who says a prisoner has to do it in the first place?” Hash asked.

“It’s intentional,” he said. “That’s just devilment. It’s entertainment for them, but it’s a big problem for you.

“There’s no equipment you can use to stop it. They’ve just got to stop it, and I don’t think it should be incumbent upon the utilities to keep looking for a solution when it’s an inhouse solution.”