Above Image: Mill Creek Sewer Plant was built in the ’70s

Note: Please remember that the plan detailed below is only a proposal, and all aspects of the upgrade process may not have yet been decided. Also, the HSVPOA Board of Directors must render a final decision when Public Services Director Ken Unger presents the project to the Board for a vote. While the final decision is close, the ink is not yet dry until Public Services has a final plan and the Board agrees with the proposed upgrades. This issue was discussed at the May 25 Public Services Committee Meeting.

The problem and the proposal

Hot Springs Village has two sewer processing plants – Mill Creek and Cedar Creek. Mill Creek Sewer plant was built in the ’70s. It is a “package” plant with only three in the United States. The United States Environmental Protection Agency identifies package plants as “pre-manufactured treatment facilities used to treat wastewater in small communities or on individual properties.” Mill Creek works at low flow levels. To continue to use the plant, it would need modernization. When we have high rainfall levels, we “blow that plant out,” stated Unger.

“It has gotten worse because we have cleaned the lines that deliver flow to the Cortez Lift Station, which then, in turn, pumps into Mill Creek Sewage Treatment Plant. Cleaning the lines was done to help solve the overflow issues around Lakes Cortez and DeSoto. Our goal is to isolate those overflows to a single location and to be able to measure the amount of overflow so we can redesign the Cortez Lift Station to handle all the flow in that area. Presumably, if the Cortez Lift Station is below a certain elevation, we can stop the overflows happening in the system. That is critical because that means we know what we must deal with at the sewer plant – whether we modernize Mill Creek Sewage Treatment Plant or ship the sewage currently treated there to Cedar Creek Plant.”

We have measured the amount of overflow on Cortez and DeSoto so we can redesign the Cortez Lift Station to stop the overflow. This is critical. We are close. We are going to max out the pumps at the Cortez Lift Station. Pumps in there today were not meant to provide maximum flow through the existing lines.

We will maximize the use of the line from Cortez Lift Station to the Mill Creek Sewage Plant by upgrading the existing pumps. We hope this will enable all sewage to flow to Mill Creek Plant, solving our upstream issues.

The proposal is to upgrade Cedar Creek Sewage Plant and take Mill Creek Plant offline for processing sewage and use it only for holding sewage. If this happens, all sewage will be treated at Cedar Creek Plant after it is upgraded. Mill Creek Plant must install a lift station to route the sewage to Cedar Creek Plant.

There would be operational cost savings if we only operated one sewage treatment facility versus two.

If we take Mill Creek Plant offline for processing sewage, it will still be available if we need to bring it back into operation at a future date.

For this proposed plan, additional sewage processing capacity must be added to Cedar Creek Sewage Treatment Plant. Unger shared, “We will still do some upgrades at Mill Creek Plant. We will increase the current flow equalization basin there. With this plan, our processing improvements will happen at Cedar Creek Plant. Unger asked, “How much storage can we get for the least amount of dollars? I want to add only what we need at the most economical cost.”

In addition, we also have overflow issues on the east side, and if we continue to grow, east side lift stations will need to be upgraded.

When Unger investigated the sewer issue, he found some odd things. On the east side, 30 horsepower pumps are pumping to a lift station with only 15 horsepower capacity. This gives us a situation where we are pumping more flow into a downstream lift station than it can deliver. Upgrading the GG pumps to the maximum capability of the six-inch line needs to be done. GG is an aggregate pump station with several other pump stations connecting and delivering the flow to Cedar Creek Plant. Hopefully, this pump upgrade at GG will stop overflow from occurring there.

Some of the project costs are also tied into the lift station upgrades on the east side. Building a flow equalization basin at Cedar Creek Plant is also a possibility if overflows continue after the upgrades.

“This project will continue to evolve as we go through the process over time,” said Unger.

Unger said, “Every time we have an overflow that we know about, we report it to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and estimate the number of gallons overflowing.

Unger said this has been an ongoing problem for years, and “we’re probably doing more in the last six months than has been done in years.”

Proposed steps to solve the sewage problems

The proposed strategy is to phase this operation over seven to eight years. We are trying to solve the system issues first. “DEQ is not going to allow us to overflow sewage unabated every time it rains,” said Unger. We have to be taking measures to satisfy DEQ.

  • The first step is to upgrade Cortez Lift Station pumps. We can repurpose the pumps currently at Cortez for use elsewhere. This hopefully solves manhole overflow issues, which is problem number one.
  • Upgrade the GG Lift Stations on the east side.
  • Then we need to upgrade the flow equalization basin at Mill Creek Plant by adding one to two million gallons per day holding capacity. To do this, we may extend the wall of the current flow equalization basin. This is economical because little site preparation work will be necessary. Many communities invest in storage using flow equalization basins because storing the sewage until it can be treated is more economical and the quickest way to stop overflows. We will still be processing at Mill Creek Plant during the storage upgrade.
  • Installing a lift station at Mill Creek Plant and completing the force main to Cedar Creek Plant is next. While this work continues, we will still process sewage at Mill Creek Plant. It is only after the installation of the lift station and completion of the force main to Cedar Creek Plant that Mill Creek Plant becomes a sewage storage facility.

How to pay for the proposed upgrades

The rate study has not been shared because sewage rate increases will be based on actual costs to do this work. The rate study was based on old numbers. “I will suggest to the Board that we come up with an approach on the rate study and do rate increases that include a cost of living increase and a bonding amount to cover bonding costs we cannot cover with our capital on hand. Every year we will update the sewer rates (on the utility bill) to reflect the cost of bonding plus the cost of living increase.”

We will not bond the full cost of the upgrades in the beginning. Unger recommends not to bond until we have a project we cannot self-fund. Incremental increases will be tied to the projects as we need to do them. “We have to show DEQ we are making progress. We need to continue to make efforts to prove to DEQ that we are, in fact, purposefully trying to stop overflows. We want to do the right thing… We can’t ignore overflows in our system,” said Unger. Our goal is to make DEQ happy.

There is also a possibility that we can get a grant. Last year we submitted a $30 Million request to the American Rescue Plan Act. If awarded the grant, this would have been a 50/50 match. While we were not allocated grant money, at least we could get Saline County to submit this request on our behalf. This was the first time the county submitted a grant request on our behalf. Garland County declined to submit it for us. Unger said that General Manager Kelly Hale has been working hard to develop relationships with people outside the Village, which may help with support in the future.

In a nutshell

The sewage overflows must be stopped whenever possible. Public Services Department, under the guidance of Director Ken Unger, with the assistance and input of an engineering firm, has been diligently working for the past six months toward a solution to this highly complex and challenging issue. The question that needed to be answered was, “Is it worth modernizing the Mill Creek Sewage Treatment Plant or taking the flow that currently goes to Mill Creek Plant and pumping it to Cedar Creek Plant, using Mill Creek Plant as a holding chamber so we can contain the overflows and simplify our treatment processes?” The short answer is that it appears that processing all the sewage at Cedar Creek Plant is more economically feasible than continuing to process at both plants, possibly giving us 10% to 15% capital savings versus upgrading Mill Creek Plant to the level needed to continue processing sewage. Doing this will also give us operational savings with possibly less chemical usage, less manpower, and less electricity.

Based on the actual costs, the sewer system upgrades will most likely increase Hot Springs Village sewer bills in the coming years.

Unger said, “We hope to meet with DEQ in the future to review the plans and ensure they are on board with everything we propose.”

Public Services Committee Vice Chair Rolland White said, “If you are showing intent, DEQ will work with you.”

By Cheryl Dowden

Contact Information for Public Services Director

Ken Unger
Director Public Services
Hot Springs Village
501-226-9609
Kunger@hsvpoa.org