Clean and clear
City officials dedicate new water treatment plant
Mayor David D. Dixon welcomed those in attendance for the March 10 dedication of the city’s new water-treatment plant, saying, “It’s been a long time coming.”
Acknowledging that “brown water” had been a problem in the city for more than 20 years, Dixon said, “No one wanted to wash their T-shirts in it, let alone drink it.
“But this is a new day. Yes, it has been a long time coming, and yes, it has cost us, … but to get a quality product, you have to pay.”
Dixon praised the work of former Mayor Larry Bowen, who began the process of getting the new water-treatment plant.
“In early 2014, he promised to fix it, and he did,” Dixon said. “I am sure people laughed when he said that, as former officials had said the same thing, but he stuck with it. He worked with the City Council and with the citizens, and he did it.
“All I did was sign off on the documents,” Dixon said. “[Mayor Bowen] did all the rest.”
Dixon, who took the oath of mayor Jan. 1, said the city began an impact study for a new water-treatment plant in
February 2014. On Oct. 21, 2014, city officials met with representatives from [the U.S. Department of Agriculture] Rural Development and representatives from the offices of U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., and former U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., to announce the funding for the project. The project also includes updates to the wastewater-treatment plant and some of the sewer lifts stationed throughout the city; that project is underway.
“Months went by, but on July 6, 2015, the city was given the go-ahead, and on Sept. 8, 2015, ground was broken [for the water-treatment plant], and construction began in December 2015,” Dixon said. “The new plant went online Sept. 13, 2016. Now we have real good water.”
Dixon said the final cost of the water-treatment-plant project is approximately $4.1 million.
Dixon said the city owns and operates the water-treatment plant, but it is managed by Heath Vaughan of Salado, in Independence County, and his company, ClearWater Utility Management Services.
The plant serves not only residents in the city of Tuckerman but also residents of Jackson County who receive their water from the North Jackson County Water Association.
“It’s a state- of- the- art plant,” Dixon said. “Heath can run the thing from his home, using an app on his phone, or he can come here if needed. It’s pretty amazing.”
Vaughan said the city of Tuckerman first contacted him about five years ago.
“The city had been experiencing brown water for more than 20 years,” he said. “The groundwater contains iron and manganese, and that’s what causes brown water.
“The old treatment plant (built in 1981) was used and abused and just couldn’t do the job [to filter out the iron and manganese] anymore,” he said. “We evaluated our options and decided building a new water-treatment plant was the best thing to do.”
Vaughn said the plant, which features a Tonka Water filtration system, is fully enclosed in a 4,500-square-foot engineered metal building that was constructed on-site. The building also includes a laboratory, office space and a separate room for the control panel.
“The system processes 800 gallons a minute or about a million gallons a day,” he said, adding that the city gets its water from three underground wells, with two of those wells currently being used. “We rebuilt the motors on both of those wells.”
The project also included replacing the old water meters with new meters equipped with radio transmitters to support drive-by meter reading. A new water tower was also built.
Vaughan said the watertreatment plant has an emergency generator that will automatically start in the event of a power failure.
Crist Engineers Inc. of Little Rock designed the facility, and VEI General Contractors of Russellville built the plant.
Joining Dixon for the ribboncutting ceremony and a tour of the new water-treatment plant were state Rep. Dwight Tosh, R-Jonesboro; state Sen. Ronald Caldwell, R-Wynne; state Rep. James Sturch, R-Batesville;
and field representatives that included Nathan Davis from Sen. Boozman’s office, Charles Landrum from Rep. Crawford’s office and Jeff Morris from the office of U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
Other local officials at the ceremony included Jackson County Judge Jeff Phillips and Justice of the Peace Tommy Young.
Vaughan was also included in the ceremony’s proceedings, as were Matt Dunn and Josh Keckler of Crist Engineers and Rickey Carter of USDA Rural Development.
Dixon said the city is “about at the 51 percent mark on construction” of the new wastewater-treatment plant. He said the total cost of that project is approximately $3.6 million.