$6.3 million project will connect 150 people to water, sewer systems

Up to $6.3 million from the state will connect about 150 people to Dumas’ water and sewer systems.

That’s about $42,000 per customer, but it’s the most cost-effective way to integrate the communities of Pickens and Winchester to public water and wastewater systems, Arkansas Natural Resources Commission Deputy Director Ryan Benefield told the commission’s board Wednesday at its September meeting.

The commission will send $3,975,000 to Dumas for the sewer project and $2,320,000 for drinking water. Of that, $1,895,000 will come in the form of loans. The rest, $4.4 million, will be loans with principal forgiveness, meaning the loans won’t need to be paid back.

Building a new treatment plant would have made the cost of the sewer project about $4.9 million, and the communities would have had to fund operation and maintenance of the plant, Benefield said.

Being such small communities, Pickens and Winchester couldn’t have afforded building or operating their own treatment plant, Benefield said. Connecting the communities to Dumas is an example of the commission’s push toward “regionalism,” which connects small communities into more fiscally sustainable larger systems.

Commissioner Fred Fowlkes pointed out the cost per customer.

“This is the most viable cost alternative for the system,” Benefield said.

Lajune Winfrey, who moved to Winchester in 2010, said she has been waiting for sewer service. Like her neighbors, she has a septic tank now, which she doesn’t like.

Winfrey, 79, attended Wednesday’s meeting with her sister and her sister’s husband, Mayor General Alexander.

“We want the project,” Winfrey said. “We’ve been waiting to get it for I don’t know how long.”

“It’d mean a whole lot to me,” she added.