Water costs are not the highest

Wastewater from Pea Ridge flows north and ultimately ends up in the Elk River in Missouri.

One of three water districts in Northwest Arkansas where water flows north into Missouri, Pea Ridge is governed by strict regulations on wastewater quality more than other parts of the nation, affecting the cost of treatment.

“In Northwest Arkansas, we have been under a magnifying glass because of the Oklahoma Arkansas lawsuit because of nutrients,” Ken Hayes, superintendent of the Water/Wastewater Department, said. “Our limits are like nowhere else. Typically, you don’t have phosphorous and nitrogen limits on wastewater. Here, we do.

“It’s very, very low so the costs of treating wastewater went through the roof 10 years ago. The plant we’re building has to get phosphorous down to one part/million. Typically, most people don’t have a phosphorous limit.”

Hayes said Pea Ridge, Bentonville and Bella Vista water flows north into Missouri — the Elk River. All other water in the area flows into the Illinois River in Oklahoma.

“In Oklahoma, it’s the nitrogen. In Missouri, it’s phosphorous. Both (Elk and Illinois) are impaired streams,” he said.

“We’re starting to see it in other places in the nation, where they’re making you get those nutrients down. It causes problems in the streams.”

As Pea Ridge has nearly doubled in size in the past decade, demands on the water

treatment plant have increased. Hayes and his crew have worked diligently to keep costs affordable. He said they have been frugal with their resources, including doing most of the construction work on the office themselves. They also do most of their own work on line construction.

“These guys are the best at this. If you run a utility, you want to try to do your costs. We’re very conservative,” he said. “You don’t have any other utilities that lay their own water and sewer lines and pour their own concrete. We’re known for that.”

The infrastructure that was in place 15 years ago is no longer adequate. City officials approved a new wastewater plant and bids were recently let for construction of that plant. A $7 million project in 2008 rehabilitating a major trunk line through town improved the utility.

“The other plant got us 30 years. Typically, that is what you plan for,” Hayes said. “Our plant is 300,000 gallons max. We’re over that now. The new one will be one million gallons a day.

“That should make us 30 years based on the engineering,” he said, explaining that the plant is going from lagoons to a mechanical plant. “It’s a different type of treatment. If we need to up size, we just add to the mechanical plant. That’s a whole lot less money to add an oxidizer.”

Hayes explained that no tax dollars are used to fund the Water/Wastewater Department.

“What it cost to run the utility, to pay for everything, we raise,” he said. “We don’t use tax dollars. We’re an enterprise fund. We have to run our utility. Rates are set on what it costs to run the utility and pay for the water. We don’t set that. There’s a state agency that does that.”

The Rural Community Assistance Program, Communities Unlimited Inc., examined the utility and determined the rate needed to be changed.

“It has nothing to do with local government,” Hayes said. Assessments were done in 2012 and 2016. “I don’t foresee any other rate increases.”

Hayes said the department is using U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development money because it’s the lowest rate. “It’s fixed. We were approved for that over a year ago,” Hayes said, explaining that the loan is locked in at 3.25 percent.

“When this was done, in order to get money from the RDA, we had to have a plan,” Hayes said, explaining that an increase in sewer rates to pay for the improvement was approved. A second phase was approved, but was delayed because engineers have been behind schedule.

“I want people to understand, we got their back,” Hayes said. The payment on the $5.5 million loan will be $250,000 per year.

The money from the 2008 project was from RDA, too, Hayes said.

“The fewer customers you have, the more it’s going to affect them,” he said. “When you have fewer customers paying for this infrastructure, it hurts.”

There are 2,900 water meters on the Pea Ridge Water system. Hayes said there are right at 7,000 water customers and 1,900 sewer customers.

In Pea Ridge, water costs are $36.71 for 4,000 gallons of water. Of the 24 water districts in the two-county area, seven are more expensive, 16 are less. The highest is Benton County Water District No. 1 (Avoca) at $47.40. The least expensive is Springdale at $13.90.

Wastewater treatment costs are $31.75 /4,000 gallons in Pea Ridge compared to as much as $54.35 in Farmington and as little as $13.36 in Springdale.