Plan or penalty: The next step in Arkansas city’s path to better water infrastructure

The Arkansas State Board of Health at its quarterly meeting in Little Rock on July 25, 2024. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate)

Members of the Arkansas State Board of Health on Thursday approved formal orders requiring improvements for three municipal water systems, two of them in Helena-West Helena where failing infrastructure has left residents with poor drinking water and occasionally dry pipes.

The Mississippi River towns of Helena and West Helena, with about 8,000 people combined, consolidated in 2006, but their water systems have remained separate. On Thursday, the board of health approved separate consent decrees for both systems, laying out the requirements necessary for improvement.

The consent decrees followed a June hearing in which city officials testified and admitted violating a number of state rules for public water systems. Among the violations were failure to hire a qualified system operator for several months, respond to notifications of significant deficiency and provide public notice when required.

Thursday’s action allows city officials 90 days to hire a necessary operator and produce a long-range plan to address issues. The plan should include a prioritized list of infrastructure improvements, a timeline for engineering plans and project construction, and documentation of the system’s technical, financial and managerial capacity to implement improvements.

If the 90 days pass and the plans are not completed, Helena West-Helena officials will face a combined penalty of $685,000 between the two water systems, according to documents provided Thursday.

“We believe in fairness, we work with everyone the best we can, but we’re trying to give a little push,” said Reginald Rogers, deputy general counsel for the Arkansas Department of Health.

If the deadline isn’t met, Rogers said, city officials would have to provide reasons for the delays. Depending on the information provided at that time, an extension may be granted or the fine may be upheld.

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John Edwards, general counsel and economic development director for Helena Harbor, submitted a letter of support for the consent decrees. During a presentation to the health board, Edwards said he “wouldn’t shrug very hard” if the total amount to fix the city’s water system reached $80 million.

Dispatch from Phillips County

Mayor Christopher Franklin did not attend Thursday’s meeting, and he was not available for an interview afterward. During a phone call Wednesday, Franklin told the Advocate that the city is “moving forward in the right direction to save our water system.”

The city’s water system is aged well past its prime, and it was highlighted during outages in June 2023 and January 2024 . Of the six groundwater wells that supply the water to residents and businesses, three need replacement. Franklin said the city is preparing next month to drill one well that should take “some pressure off” the system. Officials have also been regularly patching leaks and about 20 remain, he said.

In reference to an article from The Helena World that noted city officials “lost” federal funding because they were unprepared, Franklin said a former mayor had requested to be on a waitlist for American Rescue Plan Act dollars and he never received a notification to prepare for the funds.

Franklin said the money was not lost, and Helena-West Helena can still be considered for funding.

“We’re delayed, but we weren’t denied,” he said. “We want to make sure that we, from this point on, keep the train moving.”

Faye Duncan-Daniel, a resident from Helena-West Helena, drove approximately 120 miles Thursday morning to be present for the health board meeting in Little Rock. She submitted a letter of support for the consent decrees, and afterward told the Advocate it was “impossible to communicate” how bad the water situation has been.

“I wish I had the language to communicate the vacuum it creates, and the sense of helplessness because you can’t do anything,” Duncan-Daniel said. “Your children need it, your family needs it, and there you are. You can do nothing. … The impact of not having clean water, it’s just devastating.”

Duncan-Daniel has lived in Helena-West Helena since 2006, and she said the current state of the water system is worse than it’s been in the past because instead of officials being able to patch up the issues, residents have been left to boil water.

She also noted that the community does not respond well when the National Guard is dispatched with potable water.

“The National Guard, to us, is not always a welcome because of the history the National Guard has with the Black community,” Duncan-Daniel said. “…Whenever they show, they’re rarely on our side. … We want the water problem solved, not fear, theatrics and show — and that’s how that’s interpreted.”

Franklin noted Wednesday that the city council recently approved increased water rates, which he said was required to open funding opportunities.

Arkansas communities get $42 million in state loans to bolster water systems

When asked how she felt about paying more for city water, Duncan-Daniel expressed dissatisfaction.

“Can you imagine you turn your sink on and there’s brown water, and now you got to pay more for it?” she asked. “I mean, it’s just like blow after blow after blow, and we’re still not getting clean water.”

Duncan-Daniel is an artist with Arts for Everybody , and she recently produced a poetry project with community members in Phillips County.

Excerpts from the work include personal reflections on how residents boil water for baby bottles and collect rainwater in barrels for washing clothes; many of them have religious notes.

“Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink/Man is destroying this precious gift — what do you think?” one poem by Linda Duncan reads.

The Arkansas Division of Natural Resources has offered Helena-West Helena an $11 million loan to address a portion of the city’s infrastructure needs. When previous water outages occurred, the state also twice provided the city with $100,000 in emergency funding.

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