WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT

The original wastewater system serving the city of Conway was constructed prior to World War I. Extensions to the collection system were made and a sewage treatment plant was constructed in 1928 at Stone Dam Creek. Additional facilities at the treatment plant, including a wet well and pumping station, a trickling filter and a final clarifier, were installed in 1939. Improvements and additions were made, again, in 1950 and 1961.

On October 8, 1957, the Conway City Council passed a resolution requesting that Conway Corporation assume and undertake full responsibility for the maintenance, repair and operation of the city's wastewater system.

In 1967, a second sewerage treatment facility was constructed in the Tucker Creek drainage area dividing Conway's sewer system into three distinct drainage areas: the Tucker Creek drainage area located west of the city; the Stone Dam Creek area in the central portion of the city; and the Little Creek drainage area to the east. The Tucker Creek area was designed to drain into the Arkansas River, while the Stone Dam and Little Creek systems were emptied into Lake Conway.

Federal law requires that all wastewater treatment plants, which, like Conway, discharge into a stream tributary to a river, be licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency, with renewal permits issued every five years. In 1974, when Conway's license came up for renewal, the system, no longer able to adequately meet the needs of Conway's growing population, was licensed "with deficiency".

Realizing the need for a larger system, Conway Corporation had in January, 1973, applied for a discretionary eutrophication study grant under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendment of 1972 (Public Law 92-500). The $13,500 grant was approved, and an additional $515,706 grant was, subsequently, awarded to help defray the planning and designing costs for the proposed new system.

The Little Rock consulting firm of Crist Engineers, Inc., was retained to prepare the plans for the required improvements. The resulting project, which complied with all EPA standards and provided for the growth of Conway's population until the early 1990s, involved the construction of new sewage treatment facilities and additional sewage collection facilities.

Plans called for the new sewage treatment plant to be located in German Lane just south of the existing Stone Dam Creek plant and were designed to accommodate the wastewater flow from all three Conway drainage basins. Flows from the western and eastern drainage areas were to be pumped to the new facility for treatment and disposal. A major sewage collection system would be constructed in the eastern drainage area of Conway.
The revised system would serve the entire city of Conway, including 325 homes, newly annexed, in eastern Conway and 150 homes in the Hayes Addition, which were presently without sewer service.

To finance construction of the project, the city of Conway applied for and, in September 1977, was issued a third EPA grant -- a 75/25 participation grant. The Environmental Protection Agency agreed to provide 75% of all eligible construction costs; Conway providing the remaining 25%. With cost of the project at a little more than $8 million, the federal government's portion amounted to $634,000.

Conway proposed to fund their 25 per cent portion through the issuance of Sewer Revenue Bonds. Harrow Smith Company of Little Rock was retained as investment banking counsel. The bonds, dated October 1, 1976, were coupon bonds, payable to bearer, and sold in denominations of $5,000 each.

In February, 1978, the issue was defeased and refinanced at a lower interest rate (from 6.67% to 5.85%) resulting in a savings to the city of $242,137.

In accepting the federal grant, Conway was required to design new sewer service rates in order to comply with federal regulations requiring a "level charge". Previously, rates had been administered under three separate schedules. Under the new rates, all three classifications would be administered under the same schedule. Savings, resulting from economies of scale, would now be apportioned to all sewer users and user classes. (Since there are no metering devices on customer sewer lines, the potable water usage level is used to figure the amount of wastewater used per customer.)

Based on these federal requirements, the operating personnel of the sewer system and the consulting engineers calculated a level rate of 72¢ per 1,000 gallons of wastewater. Sewer Rate Ordinance 0-76-18 was prepared and adopted by the city council on August 10, 1976. The rates were to become effective the month immediately following "the month in which any proceeds of the Sewer Revenue Bonds are disbursed to pay costs of (sewer) improvements". Prior to the effective date, the existing sewer rates would continue to apply.
Plans called for the new system's construction, including pumping stations, force mains, interceptors, and the wastewater treatment plant, to be accomplished in four schedules. Schedule One, funded entirely from local monies, involved the construction of lines from the homes to the main lines. Schedule Two, the outfall and interceptor lines, was to be funded with 75% federal / 25% local funds, as was Schedule Three, the construction of the pump stations along the outfall and interceptor lines.

Bids for the first three schedules were opened October 4, 1977. Fraser Construction of Fort Smith was low bidder on both Schedules One and Three. Ben M. Hogan Co. of Little Rock was low bidder on Schedule Two. On November 4, 1977, Schedule Four, the construction of the treatment plant, was awarded to Seven K. Corporation of Texarkana, Texas. It, too, was to be built with 75/25 funding.

With the awarding of contracts came the expenditure of Sewer Revenue Bonds and the activating of the new rate service. On December 1, 1977, the new rates went into effect, providing the city with the means with which to pay its debt service on bond indebtedness for the new plant. The increased rate schedule was expected to provide the sewer department with $651,456 annually (based on usage in 1976, the test year).

In October 1979, with the new treatment plant nearing completion, the Stone Dam facility was scheduled for decommissioning and demolition of the facility began. The new plant went into full operation in January 1980, processing an average daily flow of 6 million gallons of effluent with the capability of sustaining significantly higher peak flows and loadings of short duration. (The old Stone Dam Creek facility could process approximately 1.5 million gallons daily.)

Editor's Note: On November 30, 1990, Conway Corporation and the city of Conway made an application to the Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology's Revolving Loan Fund for a $12,000,000 loan at 4 percent interest to fund the rehabilitation of the city's existing system and to provide the monies needed for future expansion of our wastewater treatment plant. The application was approved January 17, 1991.