Plant at capacity

The 30-plus-year-old wastewater treatment plant is at capacity and, without a new plant, city officials may need to consider a moratorium on growth.

Ken Hayes, water/wastewater superintendent, presented a report to the City Council on April 19. He received permission to begin the engineering process with McClelland Consulting Engineers.

"We've been working on a preliminary engineering report," Hayes told the council. "We've been out of compliance since '95-'96 ... it's gotten worse. Ammonia is the worst problem."

Hayes said the plant can treat 300,000 gallons a day and was run eight to 10 hours a day when he began working here 11 years ago. Now, the plant runs 23 hours a day and pumps 315,000 gallons a day.

"We have no more room ... we are running the plant to death," Hayes said.

"What's going to happen when all these new subdivisions come online?" asked Sandy Button, city clerk.

"We're running into capacity issues right now," Hayes said. "We've got room, but we're decreasing contact time. Typically, for each gallon, you need 40 days. When you increase capacity, you decrease contact time."

Hayes said the last upgrade added aeration, but did not increase capacity. "What we did then bought us five more years," Hayes said. "We're just out of time."

"We're really at the point ... if we don't do something ... (we are) going to a moratorium," he said. Hayes explained that the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality officials would take into consideration that the city is building a new plant when looking at levels of the current plant. "If they feel like we're being proactive," fines could be avoided.

"For a municipality in Northwest Arkansas, we have been very, very fortunate; we do not have a phosphorus limit. We've kind of been that low-flying plane," Hayes said, adding that substantial fines could result if the plant continues to go over the ammonia and suspended solids limits.

Hayes explained that, seasonally, the plant does better in warm weather than in cold as far as neutralizing the sewage.

"On March 16, we busted on four parameters," Hayes said. He said the ADEQ keeps track of the plant.

The Pea Ridge plant discharges into the Elk River (in Missouri).

"You're under a total maximum daily loading," Earl Carter, project engineer with McClelland, said, adding that phosphorous is more of an issue going north whereas nitrogen is the issue in Oklahoma.

Over the past several years, Hayes said he has explored various types of sewer plants and consulted with various engineers. He said the type of plant being proposed by McClelland Engineering with a capacity of 1 million gallons would cost $5 million. About five years ago, McGoodwin, Williams and Yates proposed an activated sludge plant that would have cost $7 million.

Carter said the proposed plant should provide the city with 30 years use based on the projected growth.

The proposed plant would be a mechanical plant and would be constructed on the same site as the current plant.

"It won't be a lagoon system at all," Carter said. "We can re-purpose the lagoons for flow equalization."

Council members approved selecting McClelland as the consulting engineers.

"We need to involve Jackie (Mayor Jackie Crabtree) in the process," Hayes said to the council, which was chaired by city clerk Sandy Button in Crabtree's absence.

Council member Ray Easley noted the operational costs will be higher with this type of plant.

Hayes said it would also require a Class 4 wastewater operator to run the plant.