Project Description

In 2013, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) issued a Consent Administrative Order directing Van Buren, Arkansas to eliminate sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) in the city’s sewage collection system. The Van Buren Municipal Utilities needed to develop and implement a Capacity, Maintenance, Operations, and Management (CMOM) Program within 18 months to comply with ADEQ’s submittal deadline.

Hawkins-Weir was selected to compile utility management information and procedures for the new CMOM, and to begin a Sanitary Sewer Evaluation Study (SSES) of the collection system. The initial SSES included data collection and infrastructure evaluations using the following: installing temporary flow monitoring equipment; evaluating and inspecting gravity sewers using smoke testing and closed circuit television (CCTV); evaluating and mapping of sanitary sewer manhole locations for a new Geographic Information System (GIS); evaluating wastewater pump station operations; and developing a computer-based hydraulic model of the sewage collection system. The CMOM includes a 10-year capital improvements program to correct deficiencies identified in the initial SSES, and annual operation and maintenance procedures to continue locating and repairing causes of SSOs.