Water utilities director: Fort Smith completed assessments, progress on sewer consent decree but work continues

Fort Smith's water utilities director told the Board of Directors Tuesday that the city has completed the sanitary sewer assessments required by its consent decree, made measurable repairs in 2024, and is preparing a bond-financed construction program to address remaining capacity and structural defects.

"We are not in compliance with the Clean Water Act," Lance McEvoy, Director of Water Utilities, told the board as he opened a multi-part presentation on the consent decree, its history and the city's 2024 annual report to EPA, the Department of Justice and the state of Arkansas. McEvoy described the decree as an agreement among the city, EPA, DOJ and the state to reduce sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) and bring the system into compliance.

McEvoy said the utility completed the initial sanitary-sewer-assessment work called for by the decree in 2024 after delays related to COVID-19. For 2024 he reported: 84.33 miles of pipe assessed (the city's entire system is about 535 miles), 2,139 manhole assessments completed last year, 45,270 linear feet of pipe replaced, repaired or rehabilitated, and 523 manholes repaired, replaced or rehabilitated. He said the audit/CCTV work also found 627 private service-line defects and that 143 private service laterals had cracks that would trigger owner notifications.

McEvoy told the board the department recorded 105 dry-weather SSOs in 2024 and about 26 wet-weather SSOs; staff said some events span multiple days, producing 155 SSO days in the reporting period. He described common causes of dry-weather SSOs as structural failures, debris and grease or FOG (fats, oils and grease) accumulation, roots intruding through cracks, and contractor damage.

On the enforcement and compliance front McEvoy said the department issued 410 notices of violation to FOG generators in 2024 and conducted 224 re-inspections; about 61.6% of required commercial FOG generators were fully compliant at last inspection. McEvoy also described the city's supplemental environmental project (SEP) funds, noting a remaining balance of $267,755.08 as of Jan. 1 and saying those funds are being used for low-income homeowner assistance for private-service-line repairs until they are exhausted.

The presentation outlined capacity and remedial work that remains. McEvoy said roughly 23% of required projects were complete at the end of 2024, 11% under contract, 16% ready to bid pending bond issuance, with about half of the line-replacement scope left to design and construct. He showed a progress "thermometer" and said the city intends to issue bond financing later in the year, seeking roughly $100,000,000 for construction and design work; he said EPA and DOJ have been informed of the funding plan and that federal and state regulators have expressed that seeing funding and action is important.

McEvoy also described operational and prevention efforts: a private-service-line program with smoke testing and owner notifications, a FOG education and enforcement program (including 1,742 free FOG kits distributed to the public in 2024), root-control and targeted cleaning for problem segments, updates to hydraulic modeling, pump-station and force-main maintenance, and improved computer maintenance management and GIS integration for work-order tracking.

Board members asked questions about reporting conventions and enforcement. A director asked whether the city had requested to treat multi-day events as single events for reporting; McEvoy replied the city had requested that as part of a negotiated modification and was waiting on a reply. On timing he said capacity projects could bring wet-weather SSOs near zero well before the consent-decree end date of 2037, with a tentative target for many capacity projects around 2029; dry-weather SSOs caused by FOG and private laterals he said are harder to eliminate entirely because they depend on private behavior.

McEvoy said the city intends to continue semiannual or annual progress updates and to publish project-level maps, photos and costs; he recommended continuing public education and a regular reporting cadence to build transparency and public confidence.

No formal board action was taken on the report itself during the study session; the board heard the presentation and directed staff to continue with the planned design, bidding and communications steps and to return with updates.