A long-planned $4 million project is getting underway that will involve digging up and replacing much of the sewer system in Glenwood. Clay and truss pipes are failing, causing raw sewage to overflow during heavy rains. Water is also infiltrating the system which increases the volume of sewage that must be treated at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

The City Council is expected to discuss the project at its meeting on Tuesday, May 26. Mayor Billy Plyler said in an interview that the contractor began work on Tuesday, May 19 along Highway 8.

“That’s our worst area of infiltration at that pump station and they started there first. They’re going to try to get our worst areas out of the way,” he said.

Old clay pipes are brittle and eventually crack or crumble. They typically are constructed in short segments with joints every few feet that can be susceptible to penetration, especially from tree roots. Newer Truss pipes that Plyler said were installed in some areas about three decades ago are also failing. Existing PVC pipes are holding up well and will remain in the system.

The contractor has three crews that could be working simultaneously in different parts of the city, the mayor said.

“So we’ve got a long process, going to have a lot of messed up yards, and the contractor has to get that all straightened back out,” Plyler said. To residents, he advised, “I don’t know when they’ll be in your part of town, but they will be.”

The Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality has been warning the city for years that the sewer system needed to be fixed. The city’s sewer plant discharges treated wastewater to a creek that flows into the Caddo River, then DeGray Lake and eventually the Ouachita River.

On May 10, 2023, the city notified the state that untreated wastewater was being discharged into the creek and had been occurring for an extended period. The ADEQ sent a letter to the city a week later requesting immediate action to address the unpermitted discharge and submission of a corrective action plan. A consent administrative order to bring the city into compliance was eventually signed by Plyler and ADEQ Director Bailey Taylor in November 2024.

A city ordinance passed in 2023 reallocated the city sales tax to cover part of the cost. If that hadn’t been approved, the city said it could have led to a 7.5% sewer rate increase over five years.

The sewer system should run about 450,000 gallons a day, Plyler said, but on a rainy day, that can increase to 2 million gallons, putting a strain on the system.

Kampco of Texarkana was selected using a bidding process and the City Council gave final approval at a March 24 meeting. The contractor has one year and one month of work days to complete the project. That doesn’t include Saturdays or Sundays, and crews also can’t work when it’s raining or there’s snow on the ground.

Meanwhile, Glenwood has submitted a plan to the state for approval of a $3.5 million project to expand its water plant. It too was a project the state said was needed. Both projects will be completed without any rate increases. The city applied for and received loans for the projects from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, some of which are eligible for loan forgiveness.