City agrees to find system alternative

Bethel Heights’ deal with state has long-, short-term wastewater steps

BETHEL HEIGHTS — The city has agreed to find an alternative to its long-troubled wastewater treatment plants and to continue work to fix the treatment system’s problems in the meantime, according to an agreement signed with state regulators.

The agreement suspends $81,200 in fines the state levied against the city and allows officials to decide when waste needs to be trucked away rather than treated onsite. The state also agreed to monthly rather than weekly progress reports on efforts to bring the city’s plants into compliance with its state permit.

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality also agreed the city can continue to self-report when its wastewater tests out of compliance. The state fined the city in August after it failed to share test results showing the treatment plants had harmful E. coli and other bacteria in wastewater in May, June and July.

Mayor Cynthia Black signed the consent order last week in which the city agreed to continue repairs and renovation to its plants until they are operating in compliance with state law. City officials also agreed to give the state three plans devised by outside, licensed engineers involving changing the way the city handles its wastewater.

The assurances Bethel Heights gave for bringing its plants into compliance mirror those it made to the state’s regulating agency in 2016 and 2017.

“More of the same,” said Joe Brooks, whose family owns the land south of the treatment plant. “It doesn’t have any teeth in it. They haven’t enforced it for 12 years. It’s disappointing, but the process is ongoing.”

The settlement doesn’t close the case with Bethel Heights, said Jacob Harper, media and communications manager for the state department. “It outlines Bethel Heights’ ongoing obligations.”

“The ADEQ’s goal is for the city to bring its wastewater treatment system back into compliance,” said Nathan Olson, a spokesman for the department.

Bethel Heights officials did not return calls or emails seeking comment.

FUTURE WASTE

The state gave Bethel Heights two alternatives for disposing of wastewater from its roughly 650 customers: join a regional wastewater treatment system or construct its own traditional treatment plant rather than the septic-based system it has.

The agreement gives the city a timetable:

• A report due Dec. 2 should include the capabilities of the current plants and an evaluation of the two alternatives for future treatment.

• A Feb. 1 report should include which alternative the city will pursue and a timetable to implement the new treatment plan.

• A plan in April should list the measures and a timeline needed to close the city’s wastewater plants. The state says the plants must be closed within 60 days of their last day of operation.

The consent order sets no deadline for closing the plants nor does it address how the city will pay for the selected alternatives.

Bethel Heights operates a STEP system, which partially treats wastewater from its customers. After removal of solids, the system releases partially treated water underground in a drip irrigation system, relying on the land structure to complete the purification process.

The Northwest Arkansas Conservation Authority operates a regional treatment plant in southern Bentonville. Solids are removed from the wastewater. Then bacteria in the water is activated to consume organic matter. The water is then disinfected with chlorine or ultraviolet light, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The treated water released into Spring Creek is clean enough to drink, said Mike Neil, the plant’s manager.

Bethel Heights also must evaluate building a more traditional municipal plant, which would treat the effluent to a point it could safely be released into a waterway.

INTERIM PLAN

The signed agreement orders the city to “take all measures necessary to prevent pooling or surfacing in the wastewater treatment system.”

The city’s 2015 permit from Environmental Quality allows no water to seep above ground from the underground treatment zones.

State inspectors, residents and the city have documented water pooled on the ground and tested it to be high in levels of E. coli and coliform since February. One state test was returned from the laboratory with the contaminant levels too high to test with normal protocols.

The state said in a previous report the drip fields drain into an unnamed tributary of Puppy Creek, to Puppy Creek, to Spring Creek and into the Illinois River.

The plant was operating out of compliance with its permit as recently as Oct. 10, Harper said.

“We are working diligently on our fields hoping to complete the work as quickly as possible,” Black said in an Oct. 14 report to the state.

Her report said the city has reshaped drip line trenches, installed new drip line tubing and replaced pumps and pump motors. She said the drip fields need grading and seeding.

Invoices show the city spent $193,069 in August and September on engineering services, labor and supplies to repair the two plants.

Orenco, the company designing the wastewater system for the city, said in a report earlier this month disrepair and capacity overloads were affecting the plants’ operations. Company representatives inspected the plants Sept. 10.

The company completed similar inspections in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

“The conditions noted during Orenco’s earlier visits were generally still existing,” according to the 2019 report.

The city submitted a required plan in February 2015 to correct similar problems at the plants. Violations continued, and the state on May 9, 2016, ordered the city to hire an engineer and develop a corrective plan.

The recommendations included geological testing of the site, repair or replacement of several components and installing additional tubing.

The city certified to the state Jan. 6, 2017, the corrective actions had been taken. The state closed the case.

Although the state’s current order requests repairs and actions similar to those from the past, this year’s agreement comes with more stringent orders, Environmental Quality officials said.

“Bethel Heights agreed to the Consent Administrative Order and has a legal obligation to comply with it,” Harper said. “The Department of Pollution Control and Ecology can seek appropriate legal remedies if Bethel Heights fails to comply with the Consent Agreement Order.”

LONG HAUL

The report from Orenco said the amount of wastewater being brought for treatment is more than the plants can handle. The system releases the water before it’s completely treated to make room for more wastewater entering the system, the company’s report said. The excess water pools on the ground above the drip fields.

The company pegged the number of connections from customers to the plants at about 700 and noted new connections are being made.

“Based on the number of

connections, we would estimate the average daily flow at 124% of the design capacity,” the report says.

The city installed its system in 2003. The U.S. Census figures show the city included 714 residents in 2000 with an estimated 2,752 in 2018.

The state on Aug. 6 ordered Bethel Heights to haul away 25% of its daily 80,000 gallons of wastewater until wastewater stopped surfacing on the treatment plants’ drip fields.

Invoices show the city paid $56,174 in August and September for removal and treatment of its wastewater, according to documents provided by the city.

The regional plant accepted and treated about 816,300 gallons of wastewater trucked from Bethel Heights in August and September, Neil said.

He said the plant can treat all of Bethel Heights’ wastewater, but the city would have to build pipeline infrastructure to deliver the wastewater or continue deliveries by truck.

At this point, the plant accepts trucks from no other customers but Bethel Heights, Neil said.

The city this summer contracted with BBB Septic and Portable Toilet Service of Bentonville and White River Environmental Services to pump and remove waste from the treatment plants.

Environmental Quality determined White River Environmental Services released 30,000 gallons of untreated waste onto private land near Sonora not permitted to receive the waste.

The land sits in the White River watershed area, which flows into Beaver Lake. Beaver Water Utilities serves much of Northwest Arkansas with drinking water from the lake.

The state in a Sept. 4 letter told Bethel Heights the application was a violation of state law and ordered the city to stop it.

THE TEST

The current case of operating out of compliance was opened by a resident complaint in December 2018. Lawrence Bowen, who lives east of the plant, reported untreated wastewater was spilling onto his land.

Bowen and his wife, Joetta, reported this summer the water pools even when weather conditions are dry. Joetta Bowen said she couldn’t enjoy her back porch because of the stench. Lawrence Bowen said he wouldn’t release his cows on the pasture.

The city was ordered May 6 to do weekly testing, share weekly progress reports for correcting the problems at the plants and record water removed from its treatment fields by truck.

Bethel Heights agreed in the consent order to continue weekly and monthly laboratory testing — and submit immediately any incidents when the plants operate out of compliance with their permit.

In addition, the city will continue to record and report the amount of waste removed from the plant each day by truck. These weekly reports will include receipts and other documents proving the waste was removed according to law, the agreement notes.

Local plant officers will determine when excess wastewater needs to be removed under the agreement. The city also will have engineers check the operations of the plant monthly and report any scheduled or unanticipated maintenance.

If the city complies with these parts of the agreement for four months, it may request a reduction in testing requirements, according to the consent order.

“More of the same. It doesn’t have any teeth in it. They haven’t enforced it for 12 years. It’s disappointing, but the process is ongoing.”

— Joe Brooks, whose family owns the land south of the treatment plant

PAYING THE PRICE

Environmental Quality suspended a large portion of the fines it assessed against the city in an effort to reach an agreement, Harper said.

“But the remainder of the penalty is due on demand should Bethel Heights violate the order,” he said.

The department prefers Bethel Heights spend the money complying with the environmental requirements of its permit, he added.

The department levied $101,200 in fines in August after determining the city failed to report incidents when the plants operated out of compliance with the permit. The department also said city officials apparently altered test results it did report.

Additionally, if the city fails to meet the deadlines listed in the agreement, the state will impose further penalties, starting at $100 a day from the first to the 14th days after the deadline. The 15th through 30th days will earn the city $500 more a day. Every day beyond the 30th will raise the fines by $1,000 a day, the agreement reads.

The state also leaves in place a moratorium on new water service it asked Springdale Water Utilities to impose this spring. Springdale serves nearly 900 customers in Bethel Heights with water service.

“We have received no communication regarding their request last summer,” Heath Ward, executive director of Springdale’s city-owned utility company, said Wednesday.

“The moratorium stays in place. We won’t consider the problem resolved until the state tells me they’re in compliance.”