The Arkansas Department of Energy & Environment – Division of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”) and the City of Danville (“Danville”) entered into a December 13th Consent Administrative Order (“CAO”) addressing alleged violations of a Clean Water Act National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) permit (“Permit’). See LIS No. 21-135.
The CAO provides that Danville operates a municipal wastewater treatment facility (“Facility”) in Yell County, Arkansas.
The Facility discharges treated waste to the Petit Jean River, which eventually flows to Arkansas River. This discharge is regulated by an NPDES permit.
DEQ and Danville were said to have entered into CAO LIS 19-067, on July 31, 2019, to address repeated effluent violation. The Facility is reported to have continued reporting effluent violations, and therefore has not met the requirements set forth in CAO LIS 19.067.
DEQ is stated to have sent Danville a letter on March 31st requesting a Revised Corrective Action Plan (“RCAP”) to address the repeated effluent violations. The RCAP must contain a milestone schedule as well as a final date of compliance.
Danville submitted a RCAP, with a final date for compliance of March 2022 being May 19th. The RCAP was then approved by DEQ. DEQ however requested a revision to the milestone schedule.
DEQ performed a review of certified Discharge Monitoring Reports submitted to Danville in accordance the Permit. According to the DEQ, this review identified the following violations.
- Eight (8) violations for Fecal Coliform Bacteria
- Four (4) violations for Dissolved Oxygen
- Three (3) violations to Total Suspended Solids
- Two (2) violations of Ammonia Nitrogen
- One (1) violation pH
On October 6, Danville submitted an updated milestone calendar with a final compliance date of April 2023.
CAO LIS 19-017 is closed.
Danville is required immediately to comply with the updated Milestone Schedule, with a final compliance deadline of April 2023. The CAO fully enforces the updated Corrective Action plan and any additional requirements. Danville must submit a certification from an Arkansas Professional Engineer that the Facility has met the Permit requirements.
Danville is required to submit quarterly progress reports and within 12 months of the effective date of the CAO develop and submit to DEQ for review and approval a Sewer System Evaluation Study (“SSES”) for its sanitary sewer system. Paragraph 5 of this CAO outlines the requirements for the SSES.
If Danville complies fully with the CAO, a civil penalty of $4800 is assessed. $2,400 is suspended.
You can download a copy of the CAO Here.
