Water, recycling programs discussed by Fort Smith directors

Fort Smith Utilities Director Steve Parke laid out a $49 million-$54 million plan that would establish the potential footprint for a water treatment plant at Lake Fort Smith that could produce 70 million gallons of water a day (MGD).

Parke said the existing water facilities now produce an average of 28 MGD, and can handle peaks up to 40 MGD.

A 2003 plan to renovate and expand water treatment facilities at Lake Fort Smith — some first built in 1936 — will cost as much as $54 million and include a new 4 million-gallon “clearwell” tank, raw water/clarification building and system and a new filter building that would handle the processing of 22 million gallons of water a day. The plan also would include the demolition of the original 1936 plant and some of the structures built in the 1960s.

Parke outlined the expansion plan Tuesday (June 30) during a study session of the Fort Smith Board of Directors.

Parke recently said preliminary estimates indicate the capacity of Lake Fort Smith will serve regional water needs to 2060 — a full decade longer than expected when the $200 million Lake Fort Smith expansion was approved in the late 1990s. The lake expansion, completed in late 2006, increased water storage from about 8.4 billion gallons to almost 28 billion gallons, according to city info.

RECYCLING SERVICES CHANGE
The board also heard from Baridi Nkokheli (pronounced, Bah-read-e No-Ko-Kaylee), director of the Fort Smith Department of Sanitation, about his proposal to move the recycling contract from Fort Smith Waste Paper Co. to Forney, Texas-based Corrugated Services Inc.

Nkokheli said moving the contract to CSI would move the recycling operation out of downtown Fort Smith, allow more products to be recycled and would save the city about $150,000 a year.

“It gets our vehicles out of the downtown area,” Nkokheli said of having the recycling operation move from North Second Street to U.S. 271 South near the interchange of Interstate 540.

Steve Gately, owner of Fort Smith Waste Paper and who has handled the city’s recycling program since the program’s inception in 1992, disputed Nkokheli’s assessment of the costs.

“That did not fairly represent” our bid, Gately said of Nkokheli’s presentation to the board.

Nkokheli held his ground, saying CSI’s network of facilities in the Southwest would help expand the city’s recycling program.

The board is expected to vote on the contract switch at its July 21 meeting.