FARMINGTON -- Washington County and Prairie Grove officials, along with state agency representatives, met April 8 to discuss a wastewater overflow from an aeration pond owned by Washington County Property Owners Improvement District No. 5.
The District provides sewer service to Valley View Estates subdivision.
Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality issued an emergency order April 1 for the Improvement District to stop untreated wastewater from overflowing from its pond located on private property within Valley View Estates subdivision and the Golf Club at Valley View. The order also required the overflow outside the pond to be mitigated.
The emergency order issued by Becky Keogh, ADEQ director, was the result of inspections conducted in March that showed the sewer system's aeration cell or retention pond was overflowing on two sides with untreated wastewater overflowing onto a golf cart path and the Golf Club at Valley View.
Inspection reports from at least 11 days in March stated that the aeration pond was overflowing, with untreated wastewater going on the golf course. The emergency order issued by ADEQ gave the Improvement District five calendar days to stop the overflow, mitigate the overflow outside the pond and submit documentation and photographs of this.
The deadline to respond to the emergency order was April 6. As of Monday, April 13, ADEQ had not received any documentation or photographs from the Improvement District, according to Kelly Robinson, public information coordinator with ADEQ in Little Rock.
Joe Stewart, chairman of the Improvement District's Commission, on Friday took issue with the order and the inspection reports, saying the overflow is not an emergency, has been cleaned up and is the result of an "ordinary accident." He said ADEQ staff do not understand how the system is designed to work. (See more on Stewart's response in related article.)
An ADEQ inspection report from April 8 indicates last week's meeting was set up by Washington County officials and they requested ADEQ staff to meet on site of the Improvement District's aeration pond and treatment facility.
While there, ADEQ field inspectors Matt Holden and Alison West inspected the site. Their report shows that Steve Dickerson, an employee of the golf course, was present to help answer any questions. The report notes Dickerson is not the operator of the facility and has limited knowledge of the system.
Dickerson told officials several cracked pipes had been repaired within the treatment system and parts to repair another pump had been ordered from a business in California and are expected in about two weeks.
The report indicates the retention pond was continuing to overflow on the south side and lime had been applied on the south side and north side where overflows had previously occurred. The report also says that Holden emailed Stewart, telling him to contact ADEQ's enforcement branch for questions concerning the treatment facility.
Richard Murphree, environmental
General News on 04/15/2015