Fort Smith agrees to pay $590,000 in penalties for sewer runoff

FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — The city of Fort Smith agrees in a 6-to-1 vote to pay $590,000 to the government for penalties against its consent decree with federal agencies involving sewer runoff.

Fort Smith entered into the consent decree with the Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency back in 2015, agreeing to reduce sanitary sewer overflows after years of sewer runoff into Arkansas’ waterways.

The DOJ says Fort Smith’s 481 sewer overflows in the last two years violate the requirements of the consent decree.

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