Treated Wastewater Could Restore Sager Creek
Proposed $15 Million Project Beneficial To Arkansas, Oklahoma
Last updated Sunday, March 20, 2005 12:11 AM CST in News
By Richard Dean Prudenti
The Morning News
SILOAM SPRINGS -- City officials think they can kill two birds with one expansion to the Siloam Springs wastewater treatment plant.
The ability to create pristine water using the latest in wastewater treatment technology can help restore Sager Creek and allow the city to comply with Oklahoma's ideal water quality standards.
A pipe is all that's needed to pump the 2.7 million or so gallons of wastewater each day from the treatment facility to the headwaters of Sager Creek in northeast Siloam Springs.
"It's almost like putting bottled water into Sager Creek every day," noted David Cameron, city administrator. "Running pipes would not cost all that much, and the city already has the easements for the line."
Cameron would like to capitalize on a proposed $15 million wastewater treatment plant expansion intended to increase capacity and meet Oklahoma's stringent phosphorus limits in water discharges.
"It's reasonable to want to use that water since we're the ones paying to treat it. At that price tag, the citizens should get the first beneficial use of that water," Cameron said.
The recycled water flowing through Sager Creek eventually will enter Flint Creek, a tributary of the Illinois River in Oklahoma.
The spring-fed Sager Creek suffers from high phosphorus levels, which promotes excessive algae growth and impairs water quality, especially during the summer.
As water from the northeast of Siloam Spring flows westward through the city, it picks up phosphorus from countless sources, such as lawn fertilizers, livestock deposits and street runoff.
Officials want to clean up Sager Creek, the city's main scenic trademark, much like Oklahoma officials want to limit phosphorus polluting its scenic river, the Illinois River, Cameron said.
City board members last year approved $130,000 for GBMc & Associates of Bryant to study Sager Creek and recommend a water quality improvement plan.
Increasing water volume would be one solution, according to Steve Jones, project manager with Garver Engineers, the firm that could design the wastewater treatment facility expansion.
Additional water volume will avoid stagnation compounding the water quality issue.
"We would not have to drain the creek anymore," Cameron said, because the additional water would have almost no nutrients and create a steady flow. "We'd release it back into the environment with water for our benefit."
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