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Resident raises sewage overflow concerns; city says lift station will be decommissioned in two weeks
Summary
A Ward resident told council that sewage had spilled from a neighborhood lift station and that workers had used a temporary patch; staff said the station has chronic problems, reported required ADQ notifications were made, and said the lift station will be converted to a manhole and taken offline in about two weeks.
Tanya Gibson, a resident of One Moon Ridge Drive, urged the Ward City Council on Oct. 21 to address recurring sewage overflows from a nearby lift station and to improve communication with affected neighbors.
"When I came home on Oct. 13...I could see that the sewage was running out of the manhole...they were 'trying to duct tape the pump again,'" Gibson told the council. She said workers were standing in the sewage and that crews did not erect barriers to keep residents and children away from contaminated areas.
Staff acknowledged the lift station has been problematic and said it was recently struck by lightning and experienced equipment failure; they reported the Arkansas Department of Quality (ADQ) was notified as required and lime disinfectant was applied. Staff member Bruce said the station will be converted to a manhole as part of a nearby Moonlight Meadows project and estimated it will be taken offline in about two weeks: "...he's thinking 2 weeks to have that completely offline."
On cleanup and safety, staff said standard procedure after stoppage is to collect debris and disinfect the area with lime, and more extensive remediation (scraping soil and turf) would be used only for prolonged, heavy overflows. Staff also committed to an after-action review, additional training for field crews and improved communications to notify residents when incidents occur.
Council requested staff return with an update at the next council meeting after decommissioning work begins.
Context and city response Staff explained that the lift station’s holding capacity is limited, that spare pumps have been rented previously and that the city partnered with a developer to upsize a nearby station to remove the problematic lift station. Bruce said the generator and other equipment will be relocated and that, once converted to a manhole, the fenced lift station infrastructure will be removed.
